


Slipping Away

by Steve4Eva



Category: NCIS
Genre: Angst, Forced Drug Use, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Pre-Slash, Slash In later chapters, Torture
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-14
Updated: 2019-11-01
Packaged: 2020-01-13 02:45:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 33,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18459851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Steve4Eva/pseuds/Steve4Eva
Summary: Tony DiNozzo had seen this scene before in an old horror movie, but he had never thought he would be up close and personal like he seemed to be seeing it now. This was the typical scene inside an old fashion psychiatric asylum, and it appeared that somehow, he had been admitted as a patient. (Set in season 2)





	1. Chapter 1

Something felt like it had used his stomach as a punching bag as it was trying to escape. Maybe it already had. He really had no idea. Anything he tried to think about came up blank except for the pains in his stomach and head. What the hell had he been through? His head felt like it was full of cotton candy, it was hard to think, he felt light headed and the sensation was making him slightly nauseous. Opening his eyes was not something he really felt like doing because he was afraid of what he might see.

All he could smell was weeks old sweat and urine, a smell he had become familiar with in all the back alley and dive bar crime scenes he'd seen. Was that it? Was he now part of a crime scene? He shook his head back and forth to try and release the cobwebs, so he could think. Moving his head wasn't a problem but moving his arms sure was. They seemed stuck to his stomach as if they were held there with glue. No matter how hard he tried, he could not move them. Trapped. That's it. He must be trapped. But how? He still couldn't remember anything from the last day.

He was still in the bullpen, wrapping up a case, wasn't he? Maybe he had fallen asleep and this was all a dream. No, he had the day off...didn't he? There was a vision that Gibbs was looking at him or standing over him that kept flashing before his eyes. Something was coming out of his mouth, but it wasn't audible. Was that today or the day before though? What were they discussing? Then there was a scene of him and a plate of spaghetti. Dinner he guessed, though he couldn't remember heating it up, or even preparing it. And it smelled like...human excrement.

Rolling over on his side, he gagged and since he was putting his face right into the source of the smell, the gagging got worse, driving him close to losing whatever was in his stomach. Realizing that he needed to see his surroundings if he was ever to get out of them, he threw open his eyes and saw white. Nothing but white. The entire room was so white, he wondered if he'd actually died and gone to Heaven. The walls were puffy like clouds, as was the ceiling and floor. The rancid smell was emanating from what he now saw was a grungy mattress laying on the floor. It, unlike the walls, was not soft and cloud like.

Sitting up proved to be difficult since his arms were stuck, but it wasn't glue holding them. He was wearing a straitjacket. In his attempt to sit up, he rolled off the mattress and landed face first onto the floor. Fortunately, his legs were free, so he maneuvered them forward and up to his chest, then sat up that way. He turned his head in several different directions, and the only thing that wasn't white and puffy was a small square window in what must have been a door. There was no doorknob, but there seemed to be a break in the wall in the shape of a door.

Using every muscle in his legs, he got to his feet but almost fell back down. The white room started spinning, so he immediately closed his eyes until the feeling seemed to pass. Cautiously, he reopened his eyes, and everything was still. He then plodded over to the small window. The room he was in colorless, and what he saw outside wasn't much better. It was an open room with people in pajamas and robes milling about. Some were sitting and staring at a television, others were walking around aimlessly, gesturing wildly while they appeared to be arguing with themselves, but none were paying the others or him any attention.

He had seen this scene before in an old horror movie, but he had never thought he would be up close and personal like he seemed to be seeing it now. This was the typical scene inside an old fashion psychiatric asylum, and it appeared that somehow, he had been admitted as a patient.

"Hey! Hey, somebody! Help me! I don't belong here! I! I need to get out of here! Help me!" he shouted in the hopes that someone would hear and come to his rescue. He had no idea how he had gotten himself into this mess, but he needed Gibbs to help him figure it out. Surely, Gibbs would have some idea how he had ended up in a place like this.

After a few minutes, an older woman in a white nurse's uniform came to the door and scowled at him through the window. "Keep it down in there!" she shouted back at the anxious detective.

"You gotta help me," he pleaded. "My name is DiNozzo, Special Agent Anthony Dinozzo, I'm with NCIS. Please, I ... I have no idea how I got in here, but you have to get me out. I don't belong here."

The woman appeared to laugh. "Sure, you are. We also have the Prime Minister of New Zealand down the hall. He keeps telling me he needs to get back home to his people. Dignitaries as far as the eye can see."

"No, really. I'm an NCIS agent. I'm not crazy. You need to get me out of here!"

Her response was just to stare at him with an iciness that sent a shiver through his soul.

"Call my boss if you don't believe me! Call Gibbs, Lead Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, NCIS. Call him! Please, you gotta get me out of here!"

The nurse took a step closer to the window and looked into the patient's eyes. "Stop shouting or you'll get the bath," she growled before she turned on her heel and walked out of his view.

"The what? Hey! Come back! Let me out of here! I am not crazy!" Tony yelled, before he turned and leaned against the soft padded wall and allowed himself to slide down. "I'm not crazy!" he muttered again as he stared at the white walls.


	2. Chapter 2

Looking at his watch for what seemed the umpteenth time in the last hour, Gibbs looked back up at his senior agent’s empty desk and sighed loudly. Tony was almost an hour late. Reaching for his phone, Gibbs stabbed a familiar button, impatiently listening to the ringtone on the other end of the call until the call went to voicemail, unanswered.

Hitting the disconnect button on his phone, ignoring Kate’s and Tim’s furtive worried glances as he stood up and headed towards the elevator. He growled in annoyance as he slapped elevator button and the elevator door opened, and he stepped inside. If Dinozzo had a date another hot date last night and slept in…

XXXXX

Jogging up the stairs, Gibbs reached Tony's apartment door and rapped on it with his fist. When there was no answer and no sounds of movement from within, he knocked even harder as he called, "DiNozzo! Wake up! You're late!"

He waited for another minute to give Tony time to open the door before he dug into his coat pocket for his keys. Pulling the keys free of his pocket, he quickly located the one that unlocked Tony's front door and went to put it in the lock. He paused frowning, there were deep scratches and grooves all around the handle and door jamb which looked like someone had tried to jimmy the door. With his heart pounding, he unholstered his gun, ready for any trouble before he cautiously unlocked the door and carefully pushed it open.

Stepping inside, he looked around as he felt his chest tighten with fear. There were obvious signs that some sort of a fight had taken place. The table lamps were lying on the floor, the coffee table was overturned, and a mirror was broken.

Quickly scanning the outer rooms for intruders before moving to the closed the partially closed bedroom door, Gibbs paused a heartbeat before he pushed it open and peered inside. The bedroom appeared to be empty. Pushing the door wider he stepped inside and cautiously look around before he stepped back out and headed back towards the small kitchen. Whatever had happened must have occurred shortly after Tony had gotten home, Tony's coat was tossed over the back of one of the kitchen chairs and a cold mug of coffee and an open container of home-made spaghetti was sitting partially eaten on the table.

Turning back around, Gibbs studied the small living room, the upturned coffee table, the fallen lamps and the broken mirror told of a fight that Tony had obviously lost. He froze as he saw the small discarded syringe laying half buried on the floor amongst the destruction. He swallowed hard as he tasted the bile that rose in the back of his throat, he walked across the room and knelt down beside it, pulling on one of the gloves that he carried in his pocket before he carefully lifted the syringe from out under the broken shards of the mirror and stared at it. The plunger was fully depressed and a small droplet of dried blood, Tony's blood, still clung to the tip of the needle.

Rising to his feet, Gibbs turned and pulled out his phone, hitting one of the numbers he had stored on the speed dial. He waited a moment before he heard Kate answer the call before snapping, "I want you and McGee to get over here to DiNozzo’s place now! Also get a BOLO out on Tony and his car."

He could hear the confusion in Kate’s voice as she asked, “Tony’s place?”

“That’s what I said, Kate, or are you suddenly hard of hearing?”

“Ahh, no Gibbs, I just…”

Hitting the disconnect button, Gibbs turned and stared down at the used syringe before he looked back up and stared at the door as he whispered, “We’re going to find you Tony, hang on!”

XXXXX

Sitting against the soft padded wall, Tony stared at the whiteness that surrounded him. He tried thinking of a way out of the mess he had awoken to find himself in but had given up, his head felt like it was full of cotton wool. Looking around the room, his heart sunk, there was no way out without some sort of help. Hell, there wasn't even a way he could get out of the straitjacket. All he could do was hope that someone out in those halls would take him seriously and get in contact with Gibbs.

Figuring that another attempt to get someone's attention couldn't hurt, Tony slid up the wall and to his feet before he slowly and stiffly made his way over to the door and the small window. Expecting to see the same exactly thing he saw last time of a ward full of patients dressed in pajamas milling around, lost in their own little worlds, Tony gave a little yelp and jumped back in surprise and shock  when he saw a face staring right back at him through the window.

The face never changed its expression, reminding Tony of the stone-like faces he saw on mannequins in shop windows. The face was clean shaven and a bit pale, but the thing that Tony noticed the most were the dark soulless-looking eyes that seemed to be staring right through him, leaving him feeling chilled to the bone.

Swallowing hard to try and slow his racing heart, Tony forced himself to smile as he stepped closer to the window. "Hi.”

"You're the new guy," the man smiled with delight as he pressed his face closer to the small window, trying to look further into the room before he returned his attention back to the young man standing in the room with a straightjacket on the other side of the door.

Tony nodded, eagerly, hoping to get some answers to where he was and just how he had gotten here. “Yeah, yeah, I’m the new guy but listen, I need to know where are we?”

The man in the window shook his head and chuckled, “Look around, son, isn’t it obvious? You’re in the local looney bin.”

“But I don’t understand,” Tony shook his head in confusion, unable to make sense of what he was being told through the mussiness that still clouded his mind, “Why am I here?”

 For several seconds, the man just stared at Tony before he grinned, showing off a mouthful of black and rotten, or missing teeth, "Why, the same reason we all are."

"Which is?" Tony frowned, his confusion and fear growing.

"You're crazy man. We're all crazy."

Tony ignored the man’s comment as he began to beg, "Look, I need to get out of here. I don't belong here. Can you help me? I really need to make a call to my boss."

The man continued to stare at Tony.

Encouraged by the man’s silence, Tony continued desperately, "Listen, my name is Anthony DiNozzo, I’m an NCIS agent not a patient. There must have been some sort of mistake because I’m not supposed to be here, so I need to someone to call my boss and have him get me out. Problem is, the nurse won’t listen or let will let me out of here, so I can call him. She thinks I'm crazy.” He paused and lowered his voice, as he leaned a little closer to the window, “But you're out there, so you can get to a phone. You could call NCIS for me. Ask for Gibbs, Special Agent Jethro Leroy Gibbs. Please...you gotta help me!"

"So, you want outta here?”

"Yes!” Tony nodded, relieved the man seemed to understand as he rushed on, “I shouldn't be here! Please, get to a phone and call my boss!"

"You know how you're gonna get outta here?” the strange man asked conspiratorially, leaning closer to the small window before he whispered, “Same way all the rest of us do."

"How's that?" Tony asked nervously, as sweat began to form on his forehead.

"In a pine box," the man cackled maniacally before he turned and wandered away.

“No!” Tony yelled, panicking as the man disappeared from his limited view, “Please don't go. Come back. I’m not supposed to be here. I’m not crazy! My name is Anthony DiNozzo, Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, I’m an NCIS agent. I need someone to ring my Boss, Special Agent Leroy…”

The nurse looked up from the file she was reading, irritated at the new patient’s yelling, her face growing red with annoyance and anger. Dropping the file back onto her desk, she stood up and stormed across to Tony's room as she pulled  out ring of keys from her pocket and put one of them in the door, unlocking it. "I've tried to be patient with you," she growled, as she opened the door and stepped into the tiny padded room, "but you've gotten on my last nerve."

She turned to the two large orderlies who had followed her into the room and said, "I'm thinking this man needs a lesson on shutting up."

"No!" Tony shook his head, "I don't belong here!" Using the open door as an opportunity to try and escape, he suddenly lunged toward the door and tried to use his own body as a battering ram to get through the wall of men. Outnumbered and unable to use his arms, his attempt to escape was quickly stopped as one of the orderlies grabbed him and punched him in the stomach, causing him to double over in pain.

"Take him to the bath!" the nurse ordered the orderlies, who scooped up the agitated patient and carried him screaming out of the room.

Tony continued to struggle and kick out with his legs as he was carried into a large bathroom and the door was slammed closed behind them.

"Let me go!" he yelled, kicking one of the orderlies hard in the chest as he was lifted towards a large bath tub that was situated in the middle of the room. Lifting his head, a little higher in an attempt to see where he was being carried to, Tony stared in horror at the bath full of water and ice and he began to struggle harder, trying to break free. "No! Please don't do this!" he screamed as he was lifted over the bath and dropped into the icy water below.

His screams and pleadings were silenced as his head went under the icy water and for a terrifying moment he believed he was about to drown. He felt something grab the front of the straitjacket he was still wearing a moment before his head was pulled above the water and he tried to gasp for air but the icy cold that now surrounded him momentarily robbed him of his ability to breathe.

"Next time you will do as you're told and shut up!" the nurse growled viciously as one of the orderlies held his head above the water by grabbing a handful of his hair as the nurse and second orderly placed a rough tarp covering across the top of the bath and around his neck, leaving only his head free before securing it to the sides of the bath. "Now you're going to stay here until I decide that you know how to behave." the nurse growled angrily as she double checked that the covering was secured before nodding at the orderlies and they all turned and headed towards the door.

"Ppp…pplease, you… you have to…to believe…me," Tony pleaded, unable to stop his teeth from chattering as he began to shiver in the icy cold water, "I... I should…shouldn't be…here…"

"Yeah, yeah, I know, you're some sort of an NCIS cop and I'm the queen of Sheba!" the nurse waved her hand disinterestedly at him over her shoulder as she followed the orderlies out of the door and slammed it shut, locking the door behind her.


	3. Chapter 3

"Gibbs!"

Gibbs turned towards the door as Kate and Tim stepped through the apartment door and stopped, looking around at the damage and evidence of what could only have been caused by an extremely violent fight. A fight that they instantly knew, especially after Gibbs request for the BOLO out on Tony and his car, that Tony had lost. Looking back at Gibbs's tense and worried face, both knew now was not the time to ask any questions.

"McGee bag and tag." Gibbs began to order without any preamble.

"On it, Boss." McGee answered, snapping out of the shock of seeing Tony's trashed apartment as he quickly placed the forensic box, he was carrying, on the ground before pulling a pair of blue latex gloves from his pocket, slipping them on as he crossed the room.

"Kate…"

"Already on it, Gibbs." Kate answered as she took a step forward and lifted the camera, she was carrying around her neck, up to her eye and began to take the crime scene photos.

"Who are you?" The three agents, startled by the voice behind them, turned as one towards the door. They found themselves staring at a small elderly woman standing in the doorway who was holding up an old wooden walking stick in one hand ready to as a weapon and her cell phone with her finger hovering over the number one in the other. "And what do you think you are all doing in Anthony's apartment?" Gibbs smothered a smile as he noticed that she had already pressed the numbers nine and one on the phone's keypad as she took another step forward, waving her walking stick threateningly towards him as she demanded, "Well answer me, young man, what are you doing in Anthony's apartment." She paused, her eyes growing wide as she looked past him and noticed the damage. Her eyes grew narrower with suspicion as she returned her attention back to him and taking another faltering step towards her, she raised her walking stick higher, ready to strike the young woman, "What is going on here and just where is Anthony?"

Pulling ID wallet out of his jacket, Gibbs flicked it open and held it up for the woman to see as he introduced himself and his two agents, "I'm Agent Jethro Leroy Gibbs, NCIS and these are two of my agents," nodding towards Kate, "Agent Todd," and tilting his head in the direction of Tim, "and Agent McGee."

"You're Gibbs? Anthony's boss?" the elderly woman frowned, lowering her phone, and then her walking stick, using it to help steady herself as she leaned closer and squinted at Gibbs's ID photo and name before squinting back up at him and then looking back down at the ID that he held in his hand. Finally, she straightened up and glancing at Kate and Tim before returning her attention back to the lead agent as Gibbs nodded, "So you are Agent Gibbs. Young Anthony has told me so much about you. But you still have not answered any of my questions, young man! What is going on here and where is Anthony?"

"I'm afraid that we believe Agent DiNozzo is missing and what ever happened to him, happened here." Gibbs answered honestly, aware that the elderly woman standing in front of him would not accept any other explanation but the truth.

"Ohh dear, I bet it was the awful man I saw lingering outside Anthony's apartment yesterday. I knew he was up to no good, I just knew it! Poor Anthony, such a nice young man. Are you sure he's missing? How terrible. He is such a sweetie, always checking on me. If I was a few years younger…" She paused and swallowed hard as her face lost all its color. Reaching into the top of her blouse she pulled out a scrunched-up tissue and dabbed her eyes as she shook her head guiltily, "I knew I should have told him about the man. I might have been able to stop this from happening if I…"

Gently grabbing the woman's arm, Gibbs guided her across to one of the low back chairs that lined the kitchen bench and helped her settle on the chair before he sat down on the chair beside her. "What happened to Tony wasn't your fault." he reassured her softly as Kate handed her a glass of cold water. He waited until she took a couple of small sips and some of the color returned to her face before he smiled warmly, pushing down his impatience to find out what the woman might know as he asked softly, "You're one of Tony's neighbours?"

The older woman nodded, "Ohh yes, my name is Laura, Laura Anderson, I live in the apartment next door."

"You said that you saw a man lingering outside Tony's apartment yesterday?" Gibbs asked softly.

"Yes, I did," Laura's head bopped up and down. "It must have been around two, my soapies were on, when he first pulled up in his van."

"Van?" Gibbs frowned.

"Yes, his van. He had it parked out the front in the no parking zone, that's why I noticed it." Laura scowled before she shook her head, "He wasn't even supposed to park there but these days, people seem to park where ever they like. The other day I even saw someone park in front of the fire hydrant. Goodness knows what might have happened if there had been a fire."

Gibbs nodded, "Can you tell me about the man and what he was doing?"

"Of course, I'm sorry, I tend to ramble on these days. You see I don't get to talk to many people, except for Anthony of course, he always has time for a chat." Laura blushed and shook her head, "I'm sorry, I'm doing it again, aren't I?"

Gibbs smiled and silently nodded again.

"I was watching my shows when I first noticed the van just after it pulled up just below my window. I'm not sure just what made me look out but there it was, parked in the no parking zone.t was one of those big white vans with a sign on the side. You know the signs I mean- not the type painted on but one of those fancy magnetic ones."

"Did you see what the sign said?" Kate asked gently.

"Of course, I'm not blind. It said Barney's Locksmith." Laura answered, slightly insulted as she glanced at Kate before she returned her attention back to Gibbs, "At first, I didn't think much about it, but when later after I saw them later fiddling with Anthony's door, I went over and asked them what they were doing."

"They?" Gibbs frowned looking over her shoulder at McGee in a silent order to check out the company.

"Yes, they. There were two of them, no, …no… there were three …That's right, three of them. Two of them were working on the lock on Anthony's apartment door while the third man waited downstairs in the van. Anyway, I heard a noise outside my door and when I came out I saw them fiddling with the lock on Anthony's door, so I asked them what they were doing. The older man told me that they were fixing the lock on Anthony's door because he was having trouble with it. But I didn't believe them for one second, no Siree. Anthony would have told me if his lock was broken or I would have noticed him having trouble with his key." she continued, as she turned and watched as McGee re-entered the room and shake his head at Gibbs before she looked back at Gibbs, "But you know what was strange? When I saw the van leave later, there was only two men in it." She paused and frowned, "I wonder where the other man went."

"Do you think you will be able to describe the three men to Agent Todd well enough for her to sketch them?" Gibbs asked.

"I think I can describe the two men who were fiddling with Anthony's door, but my eyes aren't as good as they use to be, so I'm afraid that I didn't get a real good look at the man in the van." Laura apologized, "but I'll do the best I can."

Standing up, Gibbs smiled down at Tony's elderly neighbour, "Thank you. Agent Todd will take you back to your apartment and if you remember anything else, no matter how insignificant you may think it will be…"

"I know the drill from my TV shows…" Laura waved her hand towards Gibb before she accepted Kate's arm and using it to help balance herself, gingerly stood up. Releasing Kate's arm and shuffled towards the door as she glanced back at Kate and asked, "Are you coming, Lassie? You heard your Boss, have you got your sketch book? We have work to do."

Waiting until Laura was out of earshot. McGee turned to Gibbs and told him softly, "There's no such company called Barney's Locksmith, Boss, they must have used fake signs."

"Ya think, McGee?" Gibbs growled in frustration as he looked around at the damage in Tony's living room before he looked back at the open apartment door, "They must have picked the lock and before one of them entered Tony's apartment, locking the door once inside then laid in wait till Tony got home. Explains why Tony was taken by surprise."

XXXXXX

A long bout of shivering woke Tony up. Looking around, he found himself back in his room laying on the floor. Whoever had brought him in didn't even bother to put him back on the mattress. They also didn't bother to put him in dry clothes, although they did take off his shirt and the strait jacket, his white hospital pants were still soaked. Between that and having no shirt, he was freezing as if someone had thrown him out in the snow in the middle of winter.

"Warned ya, didn't I?" the face in the window laughed as it stared through the small square piece of glass at him.

Tony gasped in surprise and looked up at the face watching him, "Warned me about what?" he asked through chattering teeth as he slowly sat up and wrapped his arms around himself, trying to get warm.

"The bath, man, the bath. Pine box, I'm tellin' ya." The face chuckled with delight before it disappeared.

Jumping to his feet, Tony ran to the window in the door and peered out, just in time to see the man turn and disappear out of his limited view of sight. Hitting against the soft padding of the door, he yelled, "Hey, come back here! Anyone! Please let me out of here! I'm not crazy. I shouldn't be here! There's been some sort of a mistake!" Slowly turning around, he leaned back against the door looked around the dizzying whiteness that surrounded him, he whispered, "I'm not crazy!"

The sudden whiff of something that smelled like food, but food that had been sitting out for hours, caught his attention and he heard his stomach, despite the nausea he was feeling, suddenly growl in hunger. Looking down at the floor beside his feet, he noticed for the first time what appeared to be some sort of unidentifiable stew globbed on a paper plate. There was no fork or spoon to eat it with, only a small roll on the side. In a plastic cup sitting off to the side was a brown liquid.

Leaning down, he picked up the cup and sniffed the liquid, slightly surprised when he discovered it was coffee. Taking a sip, he grimaced, it was worse than anything Gibbs could ever brew up. It was so strong, he was surprised it had not dissolved the plastic cup that held it, and it looked and smelled as if it had been made hours before and left to go cold. Thirst over rode his distaste of the almost black looking liquid as he gulped a large mouthful, gagging slightly as he swallowed it.

Slowly sliding down the door to sit next to the plate, he lowered the cup back onto the floor, and grabbed the bread roll beside the plate, hoping he could use it to scoop up the stew. Instead, it would have been more suited for baseball practice. Frustrated, he threw it at the wall, and it hit with a thud. Wrapping his arms around him to try and control his shivering, he stared at the never- ending whiteness that surround him in every direction of him as he whispered, "Rule twenty-eight- If you need help, ask. So Boss, I'm asking, please, I really need your help to get me out of here!"

XXXXXX


	4. Chapter 4

Staring at the crime scene photos that Kate had taken in Tony's apartment up on the overhead computer screen, Gibbs growled in frustration as he listened to Kate's summary of the evidence, or rather the lack of evidence, that they had so far in connection to Tony's disappearance.

"The scratches around the lock to the door to Tony's apartment are consistent with being made by lock jimmying tools. All the fingerprints we found in Tony's apartment have been identified…" Kate told him as she clicked the button she held in her hand and the pictures on the computer screen changed to show a closeup of the scratches that Gibbs had first noticed when he had gone to unlock Tony's apartment door.

"Which means our suspects wore gloves." he growled.

Kate nodded as she continued her report. "Baltimore PD are still interviewing everyone who has made any threats against Tony while he was an officer there and checking out any recent parolees who might be still holding a grudge." Kate continued her report, casting a quick furtive look at Gibbs before returning her attention back to the screen, "But so far, all their alibis are checking out, but Baltimore PD will keep checking."

Gibbs gave a single, silent curt nod, his fingers tightening around the cup of coffee he held in his hand, as Kate hit the button again and the photos of the destruction left behind in Tony's apartment was replaced by Kate's pencil composite sketches of two of the suspects. The sketches were very basic and general, with no real distinguishing features that made them stand out from the hundreds of other familiar looking men in the D.C. area. "I'm afraid these are the best descriptions of the two men she saw at Tony's door that Mrs Anderson could give me. I'm running both through facial recognition but…" Kate shrugged her doubts that they would get a hit.

"What about Tony's other neighbors? Did any of them hear or see anything?" Gibbs asked as he stared at the two faces on the screen.

"No one else noticed any strangers or heard any sounds of a fight."

"Anything from Abby?" Gibbs asked as he turned his full attention back onto Kate.

"Abby was able to confirm that the blood on the needle you found is Tony's blood type, she's running a DNA test now to confirm it was Tony's blood, but she was able to tell me the syringe contained haloperidol."

"Haloperidol?" Gibbs frowned.

"I checked with Ducky, it's a drug normally used to treat schizophrenia." Kate hastily explained before adding, "So, I asked Ducky why it would be used in Tony's kidnapping."

"And?" Gibbs demanded, his frown deepening as he waited for the answer.

"Ducky told me if haloperidol is injected intravenously, it can knock a patient out in under a minute. But that would mean that there had to be more than just the one kidnapper waiting in Tony's apartment-"

"There had to be at least two of them, more likely three. Two to hold DiNozzo down, while the third injected the drug into his vein." Gibbs completed her sentence before he added, "It's not the sort of drug that would be sold on the streets or on the black market."

"It would only be available by prescription from a doctor or a psychiatrist." Kate nodded turning back towards the computer screen. Casting a quick, side-ward glance at Gibbs when he did not comment, she quickly added, "But I'll check with the free clinics, hospitals and medical centers, find out if any of them are missing any haloperidol from their stock."

Gibbs nodded, taking a small sip of his lukewarm coffee as he watched Kate turn and hurry back to her desk.

"Boss, Metro PD just found Tony's car," McGee announced, standing up as he hung up his phone. "Someone set it on fire."

"Probably to destroy any evidence." Kate frowned, pausing with her phone lifted halfway to her ear.

"Ya think, Kate," Gibbs growled before he looked back at McGee and demanded, "Where?"

"Just off Scarlet Tanagar Loop Road, Boss."

"Wait are you both waiting for? Grab your gear!" Gibbs ordered as he slapped his half-drunk cup on Kate's desk and headed towards the elevator as both agents scrambled to grab their field bags and hurried after him, making it to the elevator just in time to step in before Gibbs hit the button to take them down o the basement and the doors slid closed.

XXXXX

Sitting in one of the old dilapidated rundown bars located in one of the back streets of Columbia Highlands district, the noisiest two customers in the bar, still dressed in their work uniforms of white pants and shirts, sat guzzling multiple beers, smoking cigarettes, and cursing each's luck as they played a hand of penny ante poker together.

Bored with watching the two men cheat each other at cards, the barman began to wipe down the bar with the dirty rag that he kept in his back pocket. Although the bar was fairly quiet at the moment with just a handful of the regular day time customers, he knew that in a few short hours the place would quickly fill up. And soon he would soon be run off his feet dealing with drunks and breaking up the normal Saturday night bar room floor fights, where the combatants were often armed with knives and guns.

He looked up in surprise as the bell above the bar room door jangled as it was pushed opened and a man dressed in an expensively tailored business suit complete with a tie, and wearing a gold Rolex, wandered in, looking around for someone. After not immediately finding who he was searching for, the stranger approached the bar and ordered a scotch on the rocks, inquiring if the bartender knew the man he was looking for.

Handing the man his drink and pointing off toward a corner where the two card players were sitting in the back, the barman made a face at the man's back as the man walked away, finding it odd that someone dressed like him would be anywhere near there. He shrugged it off and went back to wiping the bar down.

Looking up just as the well-dressed man approached, the black card player threw his hand on the table and stood up.

Holding his scotch in his hand, the stranger paused as he reached the table and glared down at the other man sitting there before he looked back the man who stood up to greet him and growled, "Who's he?"

"He's cool. Takes more than one then just me in there to keep our newest patient happy," the dark man grinned.

"This is gonna cost me more than we agreed, isn't it?" the wealthy man grumbled.

"You wanted quality work, no? Well, it's gunna cost ya to get that."

Rolling his eyes, he reached into the inside pocket of his coat and pulled out a thick envelope. "Guess you will have to split this until we can arrange for the...extras," he said, discreetly handing the man the envelope stuffed with cash.

After taking the envelope, the man tossed it to his seated partner before he turned back to his employer, his grin growing wider as he began his report. "Things are going well. He's already gotten the bath once. I'd bet his will is fading fast. It usually does."

"Good. The quicker the better. Has he been asking questions? I don't want him asking questions."

"He just keeps yelling that he's an NCIS agent and he doesn't belong there. Has no clue how he got there. No one believes him anyway. We've stuffing enough drugs into him that soon he'll even forget he's NCIS."

"I want him to forget his own name. Think you can accomplish that?"

"Like I told you, the only way anyone ever leaves that place is in the back of a hearse. Don't worry."

The wealthy man downed the rest of his scotch in one gulp and handed the black man his empty glass. "After what he did, he doesn't deserve the dignity. Make sure he has none before he dies, ok?" he growled hatefully, before he turned and walked quickly out of the bar.

XXXXXXX

Lying on the thin mattress with his knees drawn up to his chest with his arms wrapped tightly around them in an attempt to conserve what little body heat he still had left, Tony stared at the only link with the world outside of his room, the small window in the door. The thin cotton pants he wore were still damp and his body shook with small bouts of shivering. He was beginning to doubt that he would ever feel warm again.

He swallowed hard, trying to ignore the headache that was making his head feel as if it was about to explode. The smell of the rancid food and the nauseating smell of the mattress he was laying on was only adding to his misery as he tasted the hot bile as it rose in the back of his throat. Swallowing hard, he forced it back down as he closed his eyes in an attempt to block out the room which had become the nightmare, he now found himself living.

Listening to the muted noises of the day room on the other side of the door, he tried to work out how much time had passed since he had woken up in his own private hell and how he had gotten here. He wondered if Gibbs had even realized he was missing yet. But it was like his mind was stuck in slow mode and his mind began to wander, his thoughts kept racing off on nonsensical tangents.

His eyes snapped open and he looked up in fear at the door as he heard the key in the lock. Forcing himself to sit up, he watched warily as the door opened and the nurse stepped inside, followed by a large man dressed in white. She glanced down at the plate of untouched food sitting by the door before looking across at the stale bread roll that was lying against the opposite wall before she looked back in disgust at the disheveled man on the mattress who had opened his eyes and now was watching her nervously. "Time for your tablets." she announced icily as she walked across to him and held out a small plastic medicine cup, waiting expectantly for him to hold out his hand and take it.

"I don't need any medications." Tony growled in defiance, slapping the cup from her hand and unsteadily rising to his feet, his hands curling into fists as the orderly slowly began to move towards him, "I told you before I shouldn't be here! I'm a detective, my name is Anthony…Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, I'm with-"

"And I told you it's time for your medication!" she ordered coldly, pulling a pre-filled syringe out of her pocket. "Now are you going to pick those tablets up and take them or are we going to have to do this the hard way?"

Glancing at the large man who grinned and cracked his knuckles as he took a step closer, before looking back at the nurse who was waiting for him to retrieve the tablets scattered across the floor, Tony suddenly made a run for the door, knocking the nurse out of the way as he stumbled past.

He cried out in pain as the orderly tackled him and brought him crushing to the ground. Kicking out, he felt a small moment of triumph as he managed to kick the large man in the midriff. He heard the man gasp in pain as he rolled free and tried to scramble back to his feet. He felt the air rush from his lungs as he was tackled again and slammed back across the room, the soft wall padding doing little to protect him from the hard impact as he was bodily slammed against it.

Momentarily winded, he sunk to the ground as he tried to blink away the gray spots that danced in front of his eyes. He felt several hands roughly grab him a heartbeat before his arms were forced into sleeves that were made of some type of coarse material and pulled tightly across his chest. "No!" he cried out as he realized what was happening and he struggled violently to break free again as he was forcibly rolled over onto his stomach and pinned against the ground as the straight jacket was secured too tightly behind his back making it difficult to breath as his arms were pulled tightly across his chest.

"So, you want to do this the hard way, do you? I was hoping you might." the nurse whispered menacingly into his ear before she looked at the two orderlies and ordered, "Hold him still!"

Tony cried out in pain and frustration as one of the men straddled his back before cruelly grabbing his head, pushing the side of his face painfully into the cold padded floor as the second orderly grabbed his legs, pinning them still using the full weight of his enormous body, as they prevented Tony from moving at all. Tony could only grit his teeth and his body tensed up as the nurse tugged down his pants enough to expose his hip before painfully plunging the needle in, laughing as he yelped in pain as she slowly injected the syringe's contents.

Withdrawing the needle, she nodded at the two orderlies as she rose to her feet and walked out of the room.

They waited until she was safely out of the room before they released him and slowly rose to their own feet, towering over Tony as they stared down at him. One of the orderlies lifted his foot back and viciously kicked Tony hard in the ribs. "That's for kicking me!" he growled down at Tony before he turned and walked out of the room with the other orderly close behind him.

Groaning in pain, Tony rolled over onto his side and drew his knees back up to his chest as he heard the door close behind them and the key turn in the lock.

"I told ya, the only way ya leave here is in a pine box!"

Tony looked up at the blurry grinning face watching him through the window as the darkness began to pull him under. The face's haunting insane laughter echoed in his ears long after his eyes had drifted close.


	5. Chapter 5

Staring through the small window at the young man slumped on the floor against the wall as he performed his last rounds for the day before he could go home for the night, the doctor asked, "How is he?"

"Still very delusional, I'm afraid, he believes that he is a NCIS agent by the name of …" the nurse frowned and peeked over the doctor's shoulder into the room before she shook her head and looked back at the doctor, "DiNozzo, Anthony DiNozzo, I think he said. His delusions also include a senior agent… his boss… calls him Gibbs. Keeps insisting that we call his boss to come and get him. I guess it's a refreshing change from our collection of Jesus Christs and Presidents." she laughed sarcastically before adding, "He claims that he shouldn't be here..."

"Don't they all," the orderly snickered behind her before falling silent as she cast him a deadly glare.

"Why's he sedated and in the strait jacket? I thought I told you to take the strait jacket off him as soon as he woke up this morning."

"We did but he became extremely violent, attacking me and then attacking an orderly when I tried to give him his medication. We had no other choice than to physically restrain and sedate him again. And because he remains so resistant with taking his medication, I’m afraid that I have had no other choice but to give him his medication by intramuscular injections He’s a danger not only to himself but to staff and other patients as well."

The doctor sighed as he remembered the extreme mood swings that ranged from extreme apathy to extreme aggression the young man had exhibited on his admission in the middle of the night causing him to have no choice but to admit the patient directly into their most secure and often most violent ward where the type of extreme psychotic behavior he was exhibiting was best handled. After hearing of the patient's extensive and often violent mental history after his initial diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia two years earlier from the patient's own father and his doctor, who had accompanied them on his admission, he doubted that the young man would ever be well enough to be released. Turning to look at the nurse standing so closely behind him, he ordered, "Okay, if he's not going to co-operate and take his stelazine orally, continue with the injections for now, 2 mg,” the doctor paused and looked back through the doors viewing window at his patient before he shook his head, “No make that 4 mgs every 6 hours until we have his symptoms under control."

The nurse silently jotted the new orders down onto the patient's chart before she looked back up at the doctor and asked, "What about his bouts of aggressive behavior? I can't have him attacking my staff each time they enter his room or upsetting the other patients with his yelling."

Turning back to look through the observation window in the door at the restrained man lying in a drugged sleep on the floor of the padded room, he answered quietly, "Let's keep him in the jacket for now and in the room for another twenty-hour hours, see how he settles on the injections before we decide what our next step with him should be."

The nurse nodded her agreement as the doctor turned away from the door and walked towards his next patient who was sitting on the day room floor rocking back and forth, he added almost as an afterthought over his shoulder to her, "If he gets too agitated, use the bath to calm him. I found an hour or two in tepid water usually does the trick nicely."

"Yeah, we will be sure to make sure the water is … tepid, nice and tepid,” the orderly giggled, but his soft laugh was silenced under the nurse's icy glare before he turned and hurried away.

The doctor frowned at the orderly’s strange statement, but it was quickly forgotten as he heard the nurse sigh before announcing softly. “Looks like you have a visitor. His father has just arrived and is waiting at the doors to be let in. He’s probably wanting an update and hoping that we have performed some sort of a miracle and cured him overnight.”

“At least he cares, I guess, most of them don’t.” the doctor murmured as he looked up towards the reinforced glass windows in the two heavy sets of entrance doors to the ward and saw the anxious middle age man peering through the windows at him. Looking back at the nurse, he added softly, “At least now. maybe I can obtain some more personal information and observations from him about his son’s psychiatric history and behavior and what may have precipitated this newest psychotic episode without his psychiatrist dominating the conversation.”

“Maybe…” the nurse agreed, distractedly, before she turned and hurried across to one of the patients who had started to scream about the bugs, only they could see, that she screamed was crawling under her skin, trying to eat her alive as she violently clawed herself, trying to get the bugs out.

Glancing in the distressed patient’s direction, the doctor sighed, some days it felt like he was making no difference in this place at all, but it was the only hospital which allowed him to practice after the 'incident'. Sighing again, he turned back and crossed the day room, pulling out the large set of keys he carried, he selected one and inserted it into lock of the first set of reinforced doors, determined to find out more about his newest patient as he wondered if the medication and tepid baths didn’t settle the patient’s severe psychosis quickly, maybe he could suggest to his father that a few jolts of electric current therapy would.


	6. Chapter 6

"Randy's mother died when he was just five years old and I did my best to raise him right." the middle-aged man explained as he entered the ward with the ward's psychiatrist, jumping slightly as the second heavy door slammed closed and the key turned in the lock behind him. "And I thought we were doing okay until about two years ago when Randy started acting strange."

"Strange?"

"He started to complain about hearing voices that were telling him that the government was watching him. He would insist that we turn off anything electrical because he believed they could capture his thoughts through the electrical waves emitted by our electrical appliances." The man paused and looked around the day room at the patients who were milling around before he shook his head slowly, "He got so paranoid that one night he tried to burn the house down in an attempt to stop the government spying on him. If I hadn't woken up …that's when I knew he desperately needed help"

"And that's when your doctor diagnosed him as suffering from paranoid schizophrenia?" the psychiatrist asked.

The older man nodded sadly, "He wanted me to have Randy committed an institution then and there, said that he was too dangerous to be treated at home." Looking pleadingly at the psychiatrist for his understanding, the man continued, "But he's my son, I couldn't give up on him. I kept him at home and tried to handle his illness as well as I could with the help of Dr Benson. Unfortunately, he tends to go through periods where he refuses to take his medication and his condition worsens. I could usually manage to convince him to start taking his tablets again or if he was really ill, I would crush the tablets into his food but this time he knew what I was doing, and he started to refuse to eat. Even when he is refusing his medication, I can usually handle him."

Swallowing hard, he glanced across at the padded room that they were headed towards as he continued more slowly. "But…but after what happened last night when…when he attacked me and tried to kill me during one of his fits of paranoia. I …I realized that I…I had no other choice… That's when Dr Benson advised me that here was the best place for him… unlike these new fandangle kinds of asylums,” he paused and grimaced, his face screwing up in contempt as he corrected himself, “I mean ‘Psychiatric hospitals’ I guess is the new term for them these days. Dr Bensons says that Randy would not benefit at all from their fancy modern treatments of drugs, behavior therapy and counseling, he needs the good old-fashion proven treatment that this facility provides. He needs to be in a more secure environment that’s set up to control his dangerous outbursts, somewhere where he can be put in a room and in adequate restraints so can’t hurt himself or anyone else.”

"Dr Benson is right, he is in the right place to deal with his condition. We have found that often the older treatments, more forgotten or frowned upon treatments are more beneficial in the type of patients whom we treat here at our hospital than the newer methods and treatments used in other mental health facilities today. Especially with patients as ill as your son.”  The psychiatrist eagerly nodded his agreement, “Unfortunately Randy is still very resistant to taking his medication and is still very paranoid and delusional, he believes that he is an NCIS agent and he shouldn't be here and has made several attempts to escape."

"He always wanted to be in the Navy and loved watching cop shows as a child." the other man explained. “I guess the combination of the two have combined in his mind.”

"I'm afraid that we have had to restrain him in a strait jacket several times since his admission to stop him from hurting himself or attacking my staff and I have had to order my nurses to give him his medication by injections." the psychiatrist explained as they neared the padded room, "But until the medication starts to control his symptoms and he is less agitated, he is going to have to remain in our padded room where he doesn't present a danger to himself or anyone else. I know this must be distressing for you to see."

"I…I understand, Doctor." the man mumbled softly as he stepped up to the small observation window and looked at the man inside the small white padded room.

Sitting against the wall, Tony hugged his knees close to his chest as he stared at the blurry small window in the door. He tried to ignore the nauseating smell of the plate of grayish looking meat, covered in a congealing brown fatty liquid with what he assumed was a serving of vegetables that had cooked until they had turned into soggy looking mush and cup of the cold weak black tea that sat on the floor next to the door that he had been served for dinner, or was it for lunch, or was it last night and they had left it there until he ate it. He swallowed hard and closed his eyes as he tasted the hot bile in the back of his throat but closing his eyes but that only made the dizziness he was experiencing worse and increased his nausea.

Opening his eyes, he stared at the window in the door again and wondered just how long he had been here, where ever here was. Had he been here a day, a week or a month? He could no longer tell. It was hard to think, a strange fuzziness seemed to dull his thoughts. His waking moments seemed to blur together, with small recollections of waking up on the floor, sometimes in a strait jacket, sometimes just dressed in the thin cotton hospital issued pants, but his waking moments always seemed to end the same way, being held forcibly down on the ground as he was injected with some sort of drug before the darkness pulled him back under.

Placing his hands on the ground, he pushed himself to his feet, using the solid support of the wall behind him to hold him up until he got his balance before he slowly made his way unsteadily across to the door and pressed his face against the window, trying to see outside. He jumped back in surprise as a strangely familiar blurry looking face appeared and stared back at him.

"Help me." he pleaded desperately, "My…my name is Tony…Tony DiNozzo. I shouldn't be here… I need you to contact my boss, Special Agent Jethro Gibbs. He will tell you I shouldn’t be here,"

The man looking through the window grinned at him in delight before the smile was replaced by a heartbroken look as the man turned away from the window.

"No! No! Please don't go!" Tony yelled desperately as he began to hit the window hard with his hand, trying to get the man's attention as he watched the man and doctor walked away. "Please… tell my boss I am here. Gibbs, Special agent Jethro Gibbs, NCIS…he will be looking for me…Please, help me…"

"He's…he's not any better…" the older man whispered brokenly as he walked with the doctor towards the door, "I …I was hoping that…that maybe…"

"I know." The doctor answered quietly as Tony's desperate shouts reverberated around the room, upsetting several other patients. Reaching the ward's entry door, the doctor turned and looked at the patient's visibly upset father, hating the next words he knew he had to say but the man needed to be warned, "Unfortunately, I think you may have to prepare yourself that Randy's condition may not improve enough for him to ever return to home. We are doing our best to manage his condition but the level of psychosis he is displaying…"

The older man swallowed hard and nodded as the doctor unlocked and opened the door. "Thank you, Doctor, for your honesty." He managed to whisper brokenly as he glanced back over his shoulder at the closed door of the padded room before he turned and as the doctor unlocked the second set of doors that led out of the ward. “I guess that I just have to accept that there maybe I can’t handle him at home anymore for him. Maybe you and Dr Benson are right and here is the best place for him to be.”


	7. Chapter 7

Walking around the charred remains of what had been once DiNozzo's prized Corvette, Gibbs stepped around McGee who was busy photographing the scene as he listened to the Metro officer's report about finding the remains of the burnt-out car.

"This area tends to be a bit of a graveyard for stolen and stripped-down cars," the officer told him, "We were a bit surprised when we received an anonymous tip late this morning about a car being dumped and burned here late last night. And when we investigated, we found the still smoldering remains of your agent's car. The car had been fully engulfed by the fire but was but one of the license plates escaped the flames."

"Any indication that someone was in the car when it was set on fire?" Kate asked, asking the one question that she feared to hear the answer to.

"No, no body in the driver's seat and I checked the trunk, and there's no body in there either. I ran the number plate through DMV and was able to trace it back to your missing man."

"And you got an anonymous tip about the car?" Gibbs asked, looking around at the thick woods and undergrowth that lined the narrow dirt road.

"Yeah, although I don't know why anyone would be in this area, especially at…" the officer fell silent as he realized that the NCIS agent no longer seemed to be listening to him.

"Todd! McGee!"

The officer jumped in surprise as Gibbs hissed softly at his two agents, canting his head slightly in the direction that he was looking. Casting a quick, covert glance in the direction that held the lead agent's attention, the officer caught a quick flash of red as whoever was watching them ducked down amongst the green as the three NCIS agents drew their guns and rushed towards whoever was hiding in the underbrush. Drawing his own weapon, he scrambled to catch up with them, reaching them just as they surrounded the area where the suspect was hiding.

"NCIS! Drop your weapon and put your hands in the air!" Gibbs ordered firmly; his gun trained on the huddled figure hiding beneath a thick clump of ferns.

"Please do-don't shoot! I'm unarmed." The old man begged as he slowly sat up and raised his hands in the air, his eyes wide with fear as he stared up at the three NCIS agents and the police officer who all had their guns aimed at him. "I-I wasn't gunna hurt anyone. I-I just wanted to make sure that someone took my phone call this morning seriously."

"You're the one who rang in the anonymous tip about the car?" Gibbs asked, reholstering his gun, nodding at the others in a silent order to do the same before he leaned down and reached for the old man's arm, helping him up to his feet.

The old man nodded, his hands shaking as he took off his glasses before removing a handkerchief from his shirt pocket. Using the grime stained handkerchief to wipe the lenses, he tried to further explain. "I don't normally like to get involved in things. I keep to myself, and I'd like others to respect that. That's why I built my little shack back there's a little, away from the road." He told them pointing deeper into the woods, "Plus, you know, sometimes when you see someone do something, you let the authorities know, and the next day you're listed in the obituary page. But this time…"

"This time?" Kate asked, confused.

"Yes ma'am, that's what I said, this time." The old man snapped indignantly, as he brushed his hands against the front of his old red, well-worn, checked flannelette shirt, attempting to clean the dirt and leaves from them before he looked back up at her I've been livin' here long enough to watch them dump their stolen cars and I know that sometimes it's better just to turn a blind eye if I wanna live in peace but this time. But this time it was different."

"Different how?" Gibbs asked.

"Well, I was out walking my dog. I normally try to do it before it gets too dark, but Buster has been having some issues lately, and I've had to take him out more frequently even though it's dark. Not that I mind taking him out after dark for walks and so he can…well you know…, after all he's family, if you know what I mean?"

Gibbs nodded patiently as he gently pushed. "So, you were walking Buster?"

Nodding, the man said, "That's when I came across the Corvette, parked all alone on the road. Reminded me of the convertible that I used to drive when I was a little younger, and I could tell it was well-taken care of. It wasn't banged up and rusty or anything like that. It was obvious it was a car someone took good care of and I thought how terrible it was that someone must stole it and taken it on one of those joyrides, only to dump it here when they were done, in the middle of nowhere. Anyways, as Buster and I made our way over to have a look, a man got out."

"Of the car?" Gibbs frowned.

The old man nodded, vigorously, "Yes, scared me a little. I thought that the car was empty."

"Did you see what this man looked like?"

"Sort of. He was tall but not fat. Not really skinny either. He had a dark leather jacket on, you know, like motorcycle riders wear. Had on gloves too. He certainly didn't look like he was the car's owner, he was kind of suspicious looking, that's why I stopped and watched."

"Was there anything else that you noticed about him?" Gibbs asked leaning closer, watching the old man closely, "Skin color, hair color, about how tall do you think he was?"

"I'm pretty sure he was black. He had on a hat or something over his head, I think. But yes, he was definitely black. And like I said, he looked tall." The man nodded confidently, before continuing with his story, "Anyway, so after he gets out of the car, he rolls the window down before shutting the door. Then he reached into his pocket, took out a pack of cigarettes, opened it, and took one out."

"You saw all this in the dark?" the Metro police officer asked a little skeptically, glancing across at Gibbs who never took his eyes off the old man, before returning his attention back to the old man.

The man nodded again, turning to look at officer. "The car's interior light came on when he opened the door and I got a real good look at him as he got out of the car, son. Musta been an uncomfortable drive for him all the way out here though, he towered over the car once he got out of it." Looking back at Gibbs, he went on slowly, "Anyways after he got out of the car, he put the cigarette in his mouth, reached back into his pocket and pulled out a match. Strikes the match, lights the cigarette, but you know what he did then?"

Gibbs shook his head, not willing to talk and interrupt the older man's memory of what he had seen.

"He didn't throw the match away and litter like normal people! He didn't even shake out the match! No, instead he tossed it through the open window of the car, and then I heard a loud whoosh and the car went up in flames as he swiftly walked away!" the old man said, his eyes opened wide in disbelief of what he had witnessed.

"Where were you when all this happened? Did he see you?" Gibbs asked softly as he began to guide the older man out of the woods and towards the two cars parked near the burnt-out shell of Tony's convertible.

"Oh no, I was hiding right where you just found me, dropped straight down in the ferns when I saw the man get out of the car. And Buster, he musta known something was wrong as well 'cause he stayed as quiet as a mouse right beside me. He didn't make a noise, not even a whimper. But if they should get caught and put two and two together…"

"We'll make sure that doesn't happen?" Gibbs quickly reassured him before gently asking, "Did you see where the man went after he tossed the match in the car?"

The old man nodded his head eagerly as they reached the road and pointed yards up the road, "Another car pulled up a couple of minutes later, just there, and he got in that car, but I swear I could hear them laughing as they drove away."

"Did you happen to notice anything about the car that he got into? Maybe the color or perhaps even the make?" Gibbs asked

"Oh sure." Mr Hawkins grinned, "My dear wife had one just like it, God rest her soul. Her's was a beautiful 1961 Lincoln Continental. Hers was this sort of pearl white. Exquisite car. They don't make them like that anymore."

"I know it was dark but were you able to see what color was this one?" Gibbs asked.

"Oh, yes, I saw it in the moonlight as they drove away, it was the same color as my wife's. Gosh, I hope it's not the same car. I had to sell it awhile back."

Gibbs looked across at McGee and ordered. "Run a check through DMV. Get me all the registrations they have on 1961 white Lincoln Continentals."

"On it, Boss," Tim nodded as he turned to hurry back to the car.

Grabbing Tim's jacket to stop him from leaving, the old man reached into a pocket of his coat and pulled out a small piece of paper. "Here, son," he said to Tim, handing him a small sliver of folded paper. "That should help narrow things down a bit."

Confused, Tim opened up the folded paper.

"What is it?" Gibbs frowned.

"The car's license number, Boss" Tim answered, smiling at Mr Hawkins as he handed the slip of paper across to Gibbs.

"I might be old and a little slow but there ain't nothing wrong with my eyes when I'm wearing my glasses, lad, I saw it as they drove away and jotted it down as soon as I got back to the cabin, I thought it might come in handy..." Mr Hawkins grinned proudly.

Gibbs smiled as he guided the older man across to the patrol car and opened the back door as he asked, "Do you think you got a good enough look at the men that you could describe them well enough for one of my people to make an accurate computer drawing of them?"

Mr Hawkins nodded, "I'm willing to have a good go at it, son, just tell me when and where."

"How about now at NCIS headquarters. Agent McGee is heading back there now with this officer," Gibbs looked across at the Metro officer, who nodded his acknowledgement of the unspoken order from the lead NCIS agent, before he looked back at Mr Hawkins, "to run a check on that number plate you gave us."

The old man nodded as Gibbs helped him to settle into the back of the patrol car and closed the door behind him.

Turning back to Tim, Gibbs handed him back the slip of paper as he ordered softly, "Get Abby to work with him, hopefully he might be able to give us a face that we can work with and then run that plate through DMV, I want to know where that car is and who owns it and just what their connection is to DiNozzo!"

"Will do, Boss." Tim nodded, climbing into the passenger seat of the patrol car as Gibbs turned and walked back towards the charred remains of Tony's car.


	8. Chapter 8

Reading the results from the fragments of the interior of Tony's car that Major Mass Spec had just finished analyzing, Abby looked up, unsurprised, as the lab glass doors slid open and Gibbs entered the lab, followed closely by Kate.

"What have you got for me, Abs?" he asked without preamble, handing Abby an extra-large cup of Caf-Pow as he passed her to stand behind McGee.

"Who ever set fire to the car used gasoline to do the job, Gibbs," Abby answered as she followed Gibbs and Kate across to the computer table with Tim was seated, typing on a keyboard as several faces flashed rapidly across the screen in front of him, next to a computer rendered face. "It was poured around the car's interior and in the trunk before being set on fire."

"In the trunk, are you sure Abby?" Kate frowned in confusion, "Mr Hawkins didn't see the man open the trunk…"

"He didn't." Abby answered quickly as she turned towards Kate, her eyes bright with the excitement of discovery, before she turned back to a second computer screen and clicked a couple of buttons on a keyboard to bring up a simulation of the arson of Tony's car beginning with the match igniting it as she continued, "He had already poured the gasoline through the car before he even got there. Enough to soak through the car's carpets and seats and to pool on the floor."

"So, whoever did this turned Tony's car into a potential bomb before driving it to the scene." Kate breathed as Abby nodded her head vigorously.

"And all it took was one match to make it go kaboom." Abby finished for her, her hands imitating an explosion before yelping in surprise and pain when Gibbs slapped the back of her head.

Gibbs!" she squealed, rubbing the spot where he had slapped her.

"What about the man that Mr Hawkins saw getting out of the car?" Gibbs asked Tim, ignoring Abby's shocked protest.

"He was able to give us a pretty good description of the man that he saw, we made a composite picture of the man he was able to describe and am running it through facial recognitions, so far no hits, Boss," Tim told him, nodding towards the half of the screen that contained the photo of their suspect.

"What about the car?"

Minimizing the photo and the facial recognition search being carried out beside it, Tim hit two keys on the keyboard as he quickly answered his boss's question, "The 1961 Lincoln Continentals is registered to the Saint Dymphna Private Hospital, located in the old St. Elizabeths Asylum, Boss. It was reported stolen from the hospital staff parking lot three days ago."

"Who reported it stolen?" Gibbs asked.

"One of the nurses, Sarah Tomlinson. The car was signed out to her the day it went missing. Metro assumed that it was probably stolen by kids who took it for a joy ride." " McGee told Gibbs as he tapped another computer key and the driver's license baring the photo of a very stern middle age woman appeared on the screen. Looking up at Gibbs, aware that his boss would want her brought in for questioning, he added. "I checked, Boss, she's at the hospital on duty."

"Keep trying to identify our suspect, McGee. Kate, you're with me." Gibbs commanded as he suddenly spun around on his heel and headed towards the door.

"Where are we going, Gibbs?" Kate asked as she hurried to catch up with Gibbs.

"St Elizabeths," Gibbs answered over his shoulder as the door slid open as he continued, "I want to chat with Nurse Tomlinson about the day her car got stolen. So far, that car is our only link to DiNozzo."

"Gibbs…"

Gibbs halted his egress from the lab as he heard Abby's soft, tremulous whisper behind him, the brave front and bravado she had tried to put on, vanished, replaced by fear and worry in her eyes. Turning back, he hurried across to where she was still standing, her eyes bright with unshed tears. "We're going to find him. Abs." he whispered, giving her a light reassuring hug.

"Promise?"

"Promise." He promised, lightly kissing her on the top of her head before he turned and hurried out of the lab.

XXXXX

"You just can't keep behave, can you?" The nurse growled, staring in disgust at the kidney tray and drug filled syringe that had been violently knocked from her hand just a few seconds before and then at her orderly who was now rubbing his bruised jaw. She turned and glared balefully at Tony, surprised that the young NCIS agent was still even able to get to his feet, let alone, attempt to put up any type of resistance with the large amount of drugs already flowing through his system. "I warned you what was going to happen if you continued to make a ruckus and refuse to take your medication," she continued to rant angrily as she stepped aside and allowed two more large orderlies, one carrying a straitjacket, to step in front of her. "I thought you would have learned your lesson the first time after being put in the bath, but you seem determined to continue to cause trouble."

"No!" Tony gasped and shook his head in fear, backing unsteadily away from the two advancing orderlies as he raised his fists, determined not to be taken back to the bath without a fight.

XXXXX

Pulling into the parking lot, where they had been directed to by the security guard at the gates when they had entered the hospital, Kate looked through the windshield at the four-story red and white brick ivy covered building in front of them. The imposing building had an unsettling dark feel about it and Kate was unable to stop the small shiver of irrational fear that rippled through her soul. "Saint Dymphna," she murmured, as she stared at the other old and forgotten dilapidated buildings that surround them before she looked back at the imposing building as she continued, "the patron saint of the insane."

"Kind of looks like it's out of the dark ages, doesn't it?" Gibbs commented softly as he glanced at Kate who was sitting next to him, staring up at the old buildings.

Kate swallowed hard and nodded as she looked back at Gibbs and softly admitted, "The kind of stuff from the nightmares that I suffered when I was six after Rachel and I snuck out of bed one night to watch an old horror movie my mother was watching. I suffered the nightmares for months. I always knew the asylum was here and I heard some of the stories but seeing it…"

"The St Elizabeths Asylum is the oldest insane asylum in Washington DC. I guess it hasn't changed since it was built in the middle of the nineteenth century." Gibbs mused quietly as he stared up at the old building. "This is where the incurable and most violent patients, including murderers and rapists who have been determined to be criminally insane, were committed to spend the rest of their lives. I once heard an old saying about this place. 'The only way out of here for most of its inmates is in a pine box.'"

Kate looked at him in surprise and horror as Gibbs took his gun out of its holster and placed it into the glove box. Removing his own weapon without taking his eyes away from the building in front of them, Kate also placed her weapon in the glove box before looking back at the building and cautiously asking, "Why?"

Closing and locking the glove box, safely securing their weapons. Gibbs looked across at the spooked agent sitting next to him as he explained. "Because most of the patients who were admitted here would never be well enough to be released back into society."

XXXXX

Pulling the bathroom door firmly shut behind her to silence the weak pleadings from the man in the bath, the nurse glanced at the man and the woman who had entered the ward. She warily watched them pause long enough to speak to one of the orderlies who pointed at her, before hurrying towards her. Turning to the orderly who had been assisting her, she quietly ordered, "We will check on him in an hour. I want you to take his mattress out of the room. If he wants to continue to cause trouble, he can learn to go without any luxuries."

The orderly nodded and glanced at the two visitors as they reached the nurse before he looked back at her and hesitated.

"Go on, do as you're told!" she snapped, watching as he turned and hurried away before she turned to the two visitors and asked. "May I help you?"

Pulling out their badges, they flashed them at the nurse as Gibbs asked. "Nurse Tomlinson?" The nurse nodded, eyeing the badges before looking back up at Gibbs, as Gibbs continued, "My name is Gibbs, NCIS and this is Special Agent Todd, we would like to ask you a couple of questions."

"NCIS?" the nurse gasped, wide eyed as she looked at Gibbs then Kate before returning her attention back to Gibbs again. "I don't understand. What has happened? Why does NCIS possibly want to talk to me about?" she asked as she began to walk away from the bathroom, leading Gibbs and Kate past patients who appeared to be locked in their own little worlds, talking to themselves or pacing agitatedly, as they walked towards the small nurse's station.

"We understand that you reported that the hospital car you use was stolen from the hospital parking lot three days ago."

"My car? I don't understand." The nurse stopped as they reached the nurse's station and looked at them in feigned surprise, "When I reported it missing, the police told me it was probably taken by kids who wanted to do some joy riding. Why would you…" she hesitated as he eyes opened wide and she looked at Gibbs and whispered. "You said you were from NCIS?" Gibbs nodded, watching her closely as she stammered, "Oh God, does that mean someone used my car to in some sort of a crime or something?"

"We believe your car was used in the possible abduction of one of my agents last night." Gibbs told her.

"Ohh dear, I…I don't know how I can possibly help you."

"We're hoping that you could tell us about the day your car was stolen. When did you notice it missing? Did you notice anyone hanging around the parking lot?" Gibbs asked, "Maybe something you might have remembered after reporting your car stolen."

The nurse shrugged, "I don't know if there's anything more I can tell you that I didn't tell the officer when I found the car gone. But I will tell you what I told them. I parked it in the car in my usual spot in the staff parking lot when I got to work about five am three days ago and when I knocked off and went to go home, my car was missing."

"What time was that?" Gibbs asked, as Kate glanced around, trying to block out the stale smells of recirculated air and other odors she did not want to dwell on thinking about and the constant noise of cries, loud voices and the ramblings of the insane that echoed around the ward.

Frowning hard in concentration, the nurse answered slowly, "It was three days ago, so that would have made it Sunday, right?" Gibbs nodded as the nurse went on. "Sunday was the day one of the patients attacked one of my nurses and seriously hurt her, I normally get out of here at five but that day I had to stay back writing out reports about what happened in triplicate and didn't make it out until seven. Then I had to hang around another hour or two writing out more reports for the hospital admins about the car being stolen while waiting for the police to arrive after I reported the car stolen. Didn't get home that night until well after eleven and had to be back here by five the next morning," the nurse answered, slightly distracted as one of the patients began to become more animated, gestating widely while arguing with someone only he could see. "Is there anything else I can help you with, Agent Gibbs?" she asked while continuing to watch the patient.

"Just one more question," Gibbs smiled politely, "I am just wondering why the hospital would sign you out a car to use for personal use?"

The nurse gave a small, tight smile, "Take a look around you, Agent Gibbs, I am the nurse in charge of one of the most secure and the most violent wards in the hospital, possibly in the whole of Washington, DC. We take and specialize in the treatment of the patients that no one else can handle. Patients whose illnesses are highly resistant to today's modern medicine and treatments and the only other option for them is the old fashion tried and proven methods that are no longer used in today's modern institutions. And this ward treats our hospital's most violent patients, all with mental illnesses that makes their behavior not only dangerous but also very unpredictable and extremely volatile. Which means, that I am never truly off duty. If there is any type of emergency in the ward, after the attending doctor, I am usually the next person they call. So, the hospital provides me with a car to ensure I have transport to return to the ward whenever I am called. Now if there are no other questions, I really do need to get back to my patients."

"No, thank you for your time." Gibbs nodded at Kate in a silent order it was time to leave. "But if you do remember anything else, no matter how small or insignificant you may think the detail may be…"

"I will call you. Mister Gibbs, NCIS, right?" the nurse asked distractedly as she started to walk towards the agitated patient.

"Right," Gibbs nodded before he turned and followed Kate to the door.

Looking over her shoulder, Kate frowned as she watched as the nurse glanced over her shoulder at them before suddenly changing directions and hurrying across to the bathroom before opening the bathroom door and slipping inside with the orderly who had pointed her out, following closely behind. Turning back to Gibbs as the orderly unlocked the two sets of doors and led them out of the ward before locking the doors securely behind them again, she asked, "What now, Gibbs?"

Gibbs glanced back through the thick reinforced window set in the ward entry door before he turned and looked back Kate. "Let's go and have a chat with the officers who took the stolen car report."


	9. Chapter 9

"Myers, Roberts!” The Metro police sergeant called out to the two officers as they entered the foyer of Metro PD and began to head towards the squad room to write up their reports, before he hurried across to them with Gibbs and Kate following closely behind.

The two young patrol officers looked at each other, uncertain of what they could have done that had landed them in trouble before they returned their attention back to their sergeant and Myers asked cautiously, "Are we in trouble for something, Sarge?"

"Not unless the two of you have done somethin' on patrol I don't know about." The sergeant growled, as he moved the small group to an area that was a little quieter and where their conversation could not be overheard and was less likely to be interrupted before he reassured the worried looking officers, "No you not in any trouble, this is Agent Gibbs and Todd, NCIS. They want to talk to you about that car that was stolen from the asylum the other day. Seems it's somehow involved with their agent’s disappearance."

“I’m sorry but I’m not sure how just much help we can be, Agent Gibbs,” the older of the two patrol officers said as they turned their attention to the two NCIS agents, “but we can try. Just what is it that you would like to know?”

Gibbs nodded his appreciation of the officer’s honesty about how much help that they might be as he asked, "Do you remember anything unusual when you took the nurse's report when she reported the car stolen the other night. Something that didn’t sound right?"

"No, it was just the usual type of report, she parked the car in the staff parking lot of the Saint Dymphna Hospital before she started work at five, Sunday morning, and after she came out about seven that night, her car was gone.” Myers began, as his partner nodded his agreement to what was being told, “We checked with the guards on the gate, they don't check the cars marked with the staff stickers on their windshields that are coming or leaving, especially at change of shift, they just wave them straight through. None of the guards even remember seeing the car go through the gate, either in or out, on Sunday."

“None of the guards remember seeing the car?” Kate asked, shooting a quick glance in Gibbs’s direction before returning her attention back to the officers.

Myers shrugged, “It happens. Change over of shifts get kinda busy, so it gets hard for them to remember what car has gone through the gates, especially if they are just looking for the staff sticker on the windshield to wave them through.”

"Also, we have a lot of kids who steal cars to go joy riding and several chop shops in the area. We just thought the kids were getting a little more daring, stealing from the hospital, you know wanting to get the thrill of stealing a car from a so-called secured parking lot." Roberts added, pausing as the desk sergeant hurried across to join them. “We figured they decided to try and up the ante by stealing it and using the confusion of change of shift to drive the car right past the noses of the guards.

"I'm sorry, Gibbs, for interrupting," the desk sergeant said with a tinge of urgency in his voice as he looked at the two NCIS agents, "But I thought I should let you know immediately, one of our boys just pulled a car over for DUI and speeding on Franklin Avenue. The driver showed the officer Agent DiNozzo’s driver's license and NCIS ID. They are bringing him into the station now."

XXXXX

Waiting until the two agents headed towards the door, Nurse Tomlinson suddenly changed direction and hurried across to the bathroom where Tony was lying, trapped, in the icy-cold bath. Opening the door and slipping into the room, she smiled in satisfaction as she walked towards that bath and realized that the young agent appeared to have lost conscious in the ice filled tub. Hearing the bathroom door open and close behind her, she spun around as the black orderly came rushing in.

"What did the Navy cops want, Sarah?" the orderly demanded anxiously as he took a small step towards her.

"Will you calm down?” she hissed, “They just wanted to talk about the hospital car."

He shook his head in disbelief as he took another step forward, his hands curling up into tight fists, "They weren’t normal cops, they were NCIS agents! I ain’t dumb, Sarah, even I know they don’t send no NCIS Special Agents to ask about a missing car, so what they really want?"

"Honest. They asked about the day it was stolen, if I noticed anyone hanging around. You know, the usual. Asked me why I would have a hospital car, and I told them exactly what I wanted them to hear.’ She told him, sighing impatiently as she saw the doubt still in his eyes before she added “Trust me, it's fine.” She paused a moment, watching him relax before she asked softly, “But speaking about the car, just what exactly did you do with it? No one is going to find it, are they?"

"Don’t worry about it. If they do, good luck to them getting anything off it. We torched it, just like we did with that piece of crap he drove," the orderly answered as he pointed at Tony’s motionless body in the tub. "They can't link any car to any of us, especially the boss man."

"Then how do you suppose NCIS knew the car was even stolen? It’s not the kind of thing the local flatfoots would even tell the feds about." Nurse Tomlinson barked, crossing her arms over her chest, her face growing red at what she believed was his incompetence as she waited for an answer.

"What? I don't know! But if they do find it, they won't find nothin' on that car! And they won't find nothin' anywhere else! Nobody was watchin' us, there was nobody around when we dumped and torched it. Maybe it don't got nothin' to do with him!" the orderly shouted, again pointing at Tony.

“Nothing to do with him! They told me they believed it was linked to his damn disappearance, you idiot!” Tomlinson hissed, her anger rising.

Both jumped in surprise at the sound of soft, almost hysterical laughter behind them. Spinning around they saw Tony staring at them, smiling triumphantly.

"And just what the hell do you think so funny?" Nurse Tomlinson barked at him.

"I knew Gibbs would find me.” he stuttered through almost frozen lips. “You may have got rid of him now, but he'll be back. And when he does, you two will be in for it."

The nurse laughed while the orderly looked at Tony nervously. "And just what makes you think he's coming back at all? He didn't see you here!"

His blue lips curled up into a small smile. "Cause Gibbs will never stop looking for me. No matter what. He’s like a dog with a bone. He’s not going to stop looking till he finds me" he warned them through chattering teeth.

Losing her temper, the nurse suddenly lunged at Tony and placing her hand on top of his head, she shoved him under the water, dislodging the tarp around his neck before she held him there, ignoring his weak attempts to fight her for what felt like an eternity to the struggling young man. Yanking him up by a fistful of hair just long enough for him to gasp for air. “No one will ever find you! The doctor doesn't even know who you really are! He's been too busy to even look at a newspaper, the poor thing. And it's my job to make sure he stays that way, though with this crowd, all I have to do is give them a tiny push and they're going bonkers." she continued to rant before she shoved him back under , holding him under until he thought he was about to drown.  Pulling him up once again, she allowed him start a gasping breath before pushing him back under before he was even able to close his mouth, as she shouted, " And as for your friend, the great Agent Gibbs… even if he does come back, your great Agent Gibbs never find you. NEVER."

Releasing his hair, she turned and walked away from the tub before looking back at the orderly as she ignored Tony as he popped back up from under the water, coughing and spluttering as he struggled to draw a breath into his frozen lungs.

"You take out the mattress?" she growled at the orderly.

"Yes, ma'am," he answered sheepishly.

"Good. Get him out of there and throw him back in his room." she ordered as Tony continued to gasp and cough so hard that he began to gag.

The orderly nodded as he watched her walk out of the bathroom and slam the door closed behind her. He shook his head as he walked across to the side of the bath and removed the tarp from the tub. Reaching down, he roughly pulled Tony up onto his feet and flung him haphazardly over his shoulder before carrying him wet, cold and gasping back to the padded room, leaving a trail of water on the floor behind them.


	10. Chapter 10

Seated behind the table in the NCIS interrogation room, Gibbs looked up expectantly as the door opened and Kate led in the still slightly inebriated, disheveled young man, who after being stopped DUI and speeding had showed the arresting officers Tony's driver's license and NCIS ID when asked to show identification. The young man had then passed out drunk in the back of the patrol car, making it impossible for Gibbs to interrogate him at Metro PD.

Silently watching as Kate directed the man to take a seat, Gibbs accepted the slim manila folder, Kate then handed him containing the arrest report and all the relevant information he needed for the interrogation as well as the plastic bag that contained Tony's driver's license and police ID folder.

Opening the folder, he silently perused it contents for a few minutes, ignoring the man slouched on the seat across the table from him. Fingerprints had identified the sullen young man as John Gannon, age twenty-nine. He had a string of arrests for DUI's and petty thefts, as well as one arrest for grand theft auto that had earned him a prison sentence of three years. Released from prison less than a year ago, Gannon now resided in a halfway house on Hotel Street.

Pushing aside the file, he opened the plastic evidence bag and took out the license, studying it before placing it carefully on the desk in front of him. Reaching back into the bag, he then removed the ID wallet and opened it up, placing it next to Tony's driver's license on the table in front of him

Glancing up at the young man, who was watching him, with an air of disinterest and contempt, through the slits of half-closed eyes, he growled softly, "Okay, let's start with your name."

"I already told the damn cops who arrested me on these trumped-up DUI and speeding charges," the man answered belligerently as he glared across the table at Gibbs, "My name is Anthony DiNozzo… Agent … Anthony… DiNozzo. I'm a NCIS agent, so if ya don't want the Feds to come down on ya like a ton of bricks, I'd advise ya to let me go!"

Forcing himself to slowly look down at the license on the table in front of him before looking back up at the man sitting across the desk from him, Gibbs nodded and smiled coldly. "The resemblance is uncanny. Don't you think so, Agent Todd?" he asked Kate, who stepped closer to the table as Gibbs picked up Tony's license and handed it to him to look at.

"Yeah, sure looks just like him," Kate answered, sarcastically, as she looked at the photo of Tony on the license before looking at Gannon and then back at the driver's license.

"Who are you? More little pigs wanting to impress the big boss man upstairs?" the man spat out, glaring first at Gibbs, before staring balefully up at Kate who handed the license back to Gibbs, before returning his attention back to the gray-haired agent sitting on the other side of the desk.

Slamming Tony's license on the desk in front of him, Gibbs growled, "My name is Gibbs, Agent Gibbs, NCIS! And the license and ID that you are trying to use just happens to belong to my missing agent, so let's start this again, shall we, Gannon?"

Swallowing hard, the young man's face momentarily paled at hearing his name as he stared across the table at Gibbs. Looking back down at the open file in front of him, Gibbs began to flick through the pages, perusing each page, he pointedly ignored the man sitting opposite him as he directed his comments towards Kate, "Kate, meet John Gannon, age twenty-nine. John was released from Arlington county jail eleven months ago. Currently residing at the Hopkin's apartments over on 1st Street. He has a string of arrests for DUI's and petty thefts," Gibbs continued, looking back up at the man sitting opposite him. "And one arrest for grand theft auto…"

"I did my time!" Gannon growled belligerently.

Gibbs rose from the chair and began to walk around the table as he continued to talk, "Is that how you came to be in possession of my missing agent's license and ID? After you kidnapped him from his apartment and then stole his car and later torched it…"

"Hey, I didn't kidnap any NCIS cop." Gannon protested, sitting up straighter in the chair, and turning to try and watch Gibbs as Gibbs walked behind him before he looked back towards the table and answered insolently, "I told ya, I found them."

"You just happened to find them, huh?" Gibbs asked softly as he circle back and leaned back against the table next to Gannon as he folded arms and looked down at the young man, "Suppose you tell me just where you just happened to find a missing NCIS agent's driver's license and ID?"

"They were just lying on the ground outside Rosie's bar," John answered, shrugging as he slid back down on the chair, tilting the chair backwards a little as he placed his feet up on the table, put his hands behind his head and looked up at Gibbs smugly, "must have been where he dropped it. Can't be much of a Navy cop if he loses his wallet, now can he?"

Slapping the young man's feet off the table, almost causing the chair to topple as Gannon tried to regain his balance, Gibbs growled, "Listen Gannon, I have an agent who is missing, and you had his ID and license in your possession and tried to pass yourself off as my missing agent. So, unless you're willing to co-operate and tell me what you know about Agent DiNozzo's disappearance, I am going to charge you with kidnapping a federal agent."

"Before you can charge me, you need evidence and all I can see, the only evidence you have against me is I used your agent's ID which I found on the ground after he dropped it." The man shrugged and grinned cockily as he leaned confidently back on his chair, balancing on the two back legs again before he looked, triumphantly, up at Gibbs, "But between you and me, Gibbs, you want me to tell you somethin' about your missing agent? So yeah, I'll tell ya somethin'. You ain't never gunna find him alive. Now I know my rights, Gibbs, and I don't have to say anything else until I see my lawyer. So, until I see my lawyer, I ain't got nothin' more to say!"

Walking back around the table, Gibbs silently closed the file and returned Tony's license and ID back into the evidence bags. Picking the folder and two evidence bags up, he turned and walked towards the door with Kate following behind.

"Gibbs?" Kate asked in confusion as the interrogation door closed behind them, leaving Gannon in the room, alone, staring at the door.

"You heard him, Kate, he wants his lawyer," Gibbs said over his shoulder as he walked away, "so get him his lawyer."

XXXXXX

"I told you the only way out of here is in a pine box."

The soft haunting whisper close to his ear startled Tony as he tried to curl up into a tighter ball, in an attempt to get warmer. He felt like he was still submerged in the icy water and the violent shivers that shook his body only added to his misery.

Opening his eyes, Tony gasped in surprise and tried to roll away from the blurry figure who was crouched down beside him. The small movement caused a coughing fit and he buried his face into the cold, white, soft floor tiles, gasping for breath between each painful cough that sent bolts of agony through his chest. The soaking wet canvass material of the straitjacket clung tightly to him, making it almost impossible to draw any air into his tortured lungs.

"Looks like ya leaving in that old pine box is probably gunna happen sooner than later," the figure whispered softly into his ear, "especially if they keep punishin' ya."

Blinking back the darkness that beckoned him to return back into its warm embrace, Tony shook his head against the floor before he gasped defiantly between harsh coughs. "Gibbs's... going to... find ...me." Rolling back over onto his back, Tony blinked hard as he stared up at the dark figure still crouched beside him as he murmured, "I just have... to hang on... until he... does."

"He don't know you're here, no one knows you're here, I thought ya understood that." the figure continued to mock him, "Ain't no NCIS Agent Anthony DiNozzo here. There's no one here but us loony tunes, boy, and nobody knows who we are or even cares that we are here. Not the nurses, not the doctors or even ya boss, he was more interested in that missin' car than he was in you."

"No!" Tony shook his head, setting off another round of painful coughing as he lifted his head and watched the figure as it slowly faded away, until only its insane laughter echoed in his ears. "That's not…true. Gibbs's looking…for…me. He…. won't stop…Have to…hang…on…" he wheezed, dropping his head back onto the floor as he allowed himself to drift back into the warm darkness.

Standing in the doorway watching Tony's incoherent mumblings, Nurse Tomlinson smiled before she entered the room and walked across to the now semi-conscious man on lying on the floor. Nodding at the orderly to roll Tony over, she removed the needle from her pocket, before she lowered his still wet pants over his hip, ignoring the heat that was radiating from his still body as she injected the next dose of the antipsychotic medication.

"He's burnin' up," the orderly murmured worriedly, looking up at the nurse as she rose to her feet. "The 'boss man' ain't gunna like it if he goes and ups and dies on us."

Looking back down at Tony, the nurse sneered as she placed the toe of her shoe beneath his body and kicked him over onto his back. "Don't worry, he'll probably be having another bath soon, that should cool him down a little," she smiled before she turned and walked out of the room, turning as she reached the door as she growled at the orderly, "You coming?"

Nodding, the orderly slowly climbed to his feet and walked out of the room, trying to ignore the soft audible wheeze from the man lying on the floor that was only silenced when the nurse closed and locked the door behind them. Flicking off the padded room's overhead light, plunging the padded room into almost total darkness, the nurse turned and walked through the now empty and dimly lit dayroom back to the nurse's station as she began to tunelessly hum her favorite hymn.


	11. Chapter 11

Slowly looking up from the file he was reading at Kate who was staring across her desk at him, her forehead creased in a confused and questioning frown, Gibbs asked, “Do you want to say something, Kate?”

“Yes, yes I have,” she answered, rising from her seat and walking in front of her boss’s desk.

Tim looked up, nervously, from the report he was writing and held his breath as he watched his boss pick up his cup of coffee and take a little sip.

 “I thought that we never, ever let lawyers get involved…” she began.

“So why did I allow Gannon to lawyer up and get transferred back to Metro?” Gibbs finished her question for her as he placed the cup back down.

 Kate nodded as Tim waited to hear Gibbs’s answer to the same question he had been wondering about. Why had Gibbs broken one of own rules that he had taught them and expected them to follow?

“We both know that Gannon knows what happen to DiNozzo, probably even knows Tony is being held and by whom and why. He may be drunk, Kate, but he is sober enough not to co-operate and he’s not going to break fast under interrogation. But he’s cocky, too cocky to tell us what we need to know but we can use that cockiness against him. He believes that we have nothing more on him than a DUI charge and giving police a false name-”

Kate smiled as she realized where Gibbs was headed, “So, by letting him lawyer up and be transferred back to Metro-”

 “Where he has been charged with mid-range DUI. He’s due to be arraigned first thing in the morning and probably back out on the streets by about ten, which should give us enough time to get a warrant and search his apartment.”  Looking across at McGee, he added, “While McGee keeps a close tail on him after he’s released from jail.” Glancing down at his watch, surprised to see how late it was, he looked back up at his two agents and ordered, “Now, both of you get out of here, go home, there’s nothing more we can do tonight. I want you back here by six am, sharp.”

Picking up his cup of coffee, Gibbs lifted it up to his lips and took another long sip as he watched Kate and Tim grab their bags and head towards the elevator.

Lowering the cup back down, he turned and stared at the desk of his missing senior agent. “We’re coming for you, Tony, I promise we are going to find you!” he promised the missing young man before he looked back down at the file McGee had so far managed to gather on their only suspect, John Gannon. The feeling that they had missed something the first time he had read it, niggled at the back of his mind as he began to re-read it.

XXXXXXX

"Come on, Gannon, rise and shine." the officer called, hitting on the holding cell bars with his baton, as he attempted to wake the new prisoner whom, night staff had told him, had been booked and placed in the empty holding cell to sleep it off during the night. "This isn't some sort of holiday resort where you can sleep all day. You're due to go before the judge in just under an hour!" The officer frowned when there was no movement from the man curled up asleep beneath the thin gray blanket on the bunk. Hitting the bars harder, the officer ordered again. "Come on Gannon, I haven't got all day."

Staring at the motionless form on the bunk, the officer felt a cold feeling of dread as he called out for assistance before he pulled out his keys and quickly unlocked the cell.

"What's up, Kenny?" the other officer on holding cell duty asked as he entered the holding cell area and hurried to join his colleague at the cell door.

"I think we've got a dead one." Kenny answered softly, as he pushed open the cell door and cautiously moved across to the bunk before nudging the figure under the blanker with his baton, "Come on Gannon, you better not be playing around with me. This is your last chance."

Grabbing the blanket when there was no response form the man on the bunk, Kenny pulled it back, exposing the very dead body of their prisoner. Gannon's arm was outstretched with a needle sticking into the crock of his arm, a piece of material torn from the edge of the blanket was still wrapped around his bicep, his eyes were wide open.

"Oh damn! Hell, the hell did he manage to smuggle that in?" Simons frowned as he stared at their dead prisoner over Kenny’s shoulder

"I don't know but we better let the Sarge know!" Kenny murmured, ignoring the calls from the other prisoners in the adjoining cells who were demanding to know what had happened, as he allowed the blanket to drop back over the body and rushed out of the cell as his partner turned and hurried out to the booking area.

XXXXXXXX

"Did you hear?" Nurse Tomlinson asked Maurice, while pouring coffee into her mug in the staff break room before she went on duty for the day.

"Hear what?" the orderly asked as he added a few lumps of sugar to the steaming brown liquid in front of him.

"John, the idiot, went and got himself picked up for speeding and DUI last night." she told him as she took a small sip of her coffee before grimacing and adding several lumps of sugar and cream before stirring it noisily.

"By the cops?!" Maurice gasped, almost dropping the mug of coffee he'd just picked up.

"Who else would pick him up?! Yes, by the cops!" She walked her mug over to the table, set it down, and picked up a newspaper, looking at the front page as if there was nothing wrong.

"Why you so calm? This is bad, very bad!" Taking a seat at the same table, Maurice wrapped his hands around the coffee mug, not even noticing how hot his hands were getting.

Nurse Tomlinson rolled her eyes and slowly set down the paper. "And just what is so bad about it, besides being down a man to keep our patient under control. You do most of that anyway."

"What...what if they link John to that Navy cop in there? He lifted that cop’s wallet when we grabbed him and ya can bet he’s been using the cop’s credit card. And the cop’s always search you when they arrest you! For sure they'll find the wallet and the card on him. Won’t be long before they figure it all out and come stormin' in here, guns blazin'!"

"This isn't a western movie, Maurice," Nurse Tomlinson scolded. "Stop being ridiculous. Besides, I'm sure they've already linked John with DiNozzo, seeing as the moron gave them his ID when he was arrested. They didn't buy it for a second, probably because the two don't look anything alike."

"Then he's talked! I know he has! Oh god." Abandoning his coffee cup, the orderly stood up and began pacing the small room.

"He never said a word," Nurse Tomlinson said confidently.

"How you know that?" Maurice stopped pacing long enough to turn and look at her.

"I just do. Stop worrying. Everything has been taken care of. John Gannon won't say a word to anyone about anything again. We are just fine." She folded up the paper and laid it back down on the table before taking another casual sip of her coffee and standing up.

The nurse’s reassurance sent chills all over Maurice's body as he eyed her closely and asked warily. "Why won't he say a word, Sarah? Huh? How do you know he won't talk? Them cops, they offer deals all the time. First one to talk gets the best deal, and you know John gunna wanna deal to get out of sumthin. Hell, we both know that he'd throw his own momma under the bus to get outta jail."

"Dead men tell no tales, Maurice. Remember that." Nurse Tomlinson said cryptically as she put her mug in the sink and wandered out into the hallway to do her rounds.

XXXXXXX

Stepping around the police photographer as he entered the cell, he ordered Kate to start bagging and tagging any evidence she found before informing the officers that this was now formally an NCIS investigation. He turned and stared at the body, his only link to Tony, who still lying with the needle in his arm on the bunk. "Who found him?"

"I did, Sir." The young officer answered nervously, "I tried to wake him up to have his breakfast and get ready for court but when he didn't move…"

Gibbs nodded as he knelt beside Ducky who was examining the body, "Any idea how long, Duck?"

"Judging by liver temp, Jethro, I would say he's been dead for about seven hours."

Glancing at his watch, Gibbs murmured, "So he died about midnight."

"Give or take an hour. I can give you a firmer time of death after I do the post mortem. As for cause of death," nodding at the needle in the body's arm, Ducky shrugged, "You will have to wait for the drug test results to see if its cocaine of heroin. My bet is heroin, but Abby will be able to confirm that. But I have notice one thing, Jethro, that might interest you." Pointing to two red areas on the arm, he nodded, "See those bruises."

"He was held down and injected?"

"Looks that way but I can tell you more after I do the autopsy.” Ducky answered as he rose to his feet and nodded to Gerrard that he could bring in the stretcher to load the body as Gibbs also stood up and stepped back, out of the way.

"I heard about young Anthony." Nodding towards the man now being loaded onto the mortuary stretcher, he added softly, "Please tell me, Jethro, that he wasn't your only lead to finding him."

"He was." Gibbs sighed as he heard McGee call his name.

Patting Gibbs on the back of the shoulder, Ducky reassured him, "I will get the report to you as soon as I can, Jethro."

"Thanks, Duck." Gibbs murmured distractedly as he hurried out of the cell to meet McGee as Tim hurried down the corridor towards him.

"What have we got?" he asked McGee as he reached him, and they began to walk back towards the booking and the way out of the cells.

"Not a lot, Boss. I spoke to the two officers who were assigned guard duty last night in the holding cells. They said they checked the prisoners ever hour and Gannon at first was loud, smug and obnoxious after I brought him back down to the holding cells but on the midnight check, he appeared to have finally settled and was sleeping with the blanket pulled up over his head. Some of the other officers are talking to the other prisoners who were in the holding cells last night, but so far they all claim they saw nothing unusual or anyone enter or leave Gannon's cell."

Gibbs nodded before he told McGee, "Ducky thinks that someone held Gannon down."

"He was murdered?" McGee asked, glancing behind him down the corridor towards the holding cell area.

"That's what we are going to find out and why?"

XXXXXXX

Following the nurse out of the break room, Maurice walked across and stood outside Tony's padded room door, staring through the window at the young Special Agent who was now lying motionless on the floor. All he could think about was how awful this would turn out if the Navy cop died. The boss would be livid because that wasn't in his plan. Yet there DiNozzo laid, barely moving except to cough and shiver. If DiNozzo died it would mean just one thing for Maurice, a one-way trip to prison for kidnapping and murder with no possibility for parole.

Staring through the small window at the lifeless body of Tony DiNozzo, all Maurice could think about was what if John already talked before he was presumably killed? Or worse, what if he ended up the same way as John? He had no doubt that if Nurse Tomlinson had her way, that John was indeed dead. Maurice wasn’t sure how she had arranged it, but he was certain that she had, and if she even thought that he was thinking of crossing her that he would be next. And he was in no mood to die, especially for a few thousand bucks. The first one that talks gets the deal, he thought. Even if John had taken a deal and talked, it wasn't doing him any good anymore, and he knew more than John anyway. John didn't even know who was pulling the strings.

"I gotta tell the cops," he whispered to the door just as Nurse Tomlinson crossed the day room and joined him, glancing, disinterestedly, through the window at the sick NCIS agent before she returned her attention back to the orderly. "Don't tell me you got all your work done, Mr. Diamond," she scolded Maurice as he continued to gaze through the small window.

"We gotta get outta this," he said softly, still staring at the door.

"Get out of what exactly?"

"This mess. If he dies, we're in deep. I ain't goin' to jail for some rich guy’s crazy revenge." Finally turning to Nurse Tomlinson, he growled, "Or your overkill."

Placing her hands on her hips, she glared at him glared at him, “Excuse me?!"

"You didn't hafta drown him, Sarah. That went too far. The drugs were enough. Now he's gunna die and we're lookin' at doin’ life, there ain’t no parole for killing a cop, especially a Navy cop. Nah, man. No way. If the boss man wants him so bad, he can finish this himself."

Maurice turned and tried to walk away, but Nurse Tomlinson grabbed his arm tightly. "Just where do you think you're going?"

"The cops!" he whispered loudly. "I'm getting a deal, cus I ain't doin' time for killing no cop just cause some crazy rich dude wants him dead. If you were smart, you'd do the same! You don't owe that maniac a damn thing. Get outta this before someone else dies."

Wiggling out of her grasp, he walked quickly down the hall and out of her sight as she continued to glare at him.


	12. Chapter 12

Standing in front of the computer screen, staring at a photo of Gannon that was next to a photo of Tony's ID that had been found in his possession when he was arrested, Gibbs demanded, "Okay, what have we got?"

"John Gannon was a local boy, Gibbs, twenty -six years old, born and raised in Washington D.C., his parents and younger sister still live here." Kate began, clicking the button she held in her hand displaying a copy of Gannon's rap sheet up on the screen. "He has a string of arrests for petty theft, shoplifting and DUI's. He was released from Arlington County Jail eleven months ago after serving a four-year stint for grand theft auto… he stole and crashed his father's car. His parents have disowned him, even told me to bury him in a pauper's grave when I informed them of his death."

"Ouch," McGee breathed.

Kate nodded as she continued "They told me as far as they are concerned, he died years ago. After he was released from prison, he was living at the Hopkin Apartments, but his parole office said about two months ago Gannon moved out, leaving no forwarding address and he stopped reporting in."

"Why didn't the parole office revoke his parole?" Gibbs asked, frowning.

"He said with over four hundred parolees on his books, he just hadn't gotten around to it yet." Kate answered as Gibbs shook his head in disgust. "I checked for any connections between Tony and Gannon. There's none that I can find, Gibbs, Tony was never involved in any of Gannon's or any of his cellmates' arrests when he was at Baltimore PD and as far as I can discover, their paths have never crossed. But on a hunch, I took a photo of Gannon and showed Mrs Andrews, Tony's neighbor…"

"And?"

"She identified him as one of the men she had seen working on the lock on Tony's apartment door, Gibbs."

"So, Gannon was involved in Tony's abduction."

"Ya think, McGee?" Gibbs growled.

The young probie agent blushed as he took the computer button from Kate and changed the photo to show Gannon's body in the holding cell as he started his report. "Ducky confirmed Gannon's cause of death was a heroin overdose and the bruises on his arm was caused by someone holding his arm down, probably while the heroin was injected. Ducky placed time of death between midnight and one this morning."

"What about the officers on duty?" Gibbs demanded, "What were they doing when Gannon was murdered?"

"I've already checked with the two officers on duty and the holding cells' security tapes, Boss, both officers were busy dealing with another disruptive prisoner, but security tape shows a third officer enter the holding cells and go directly to Gannon's cell." Clicking the button again, Gibbs and Kate watched the holding cells security video showing the two officers on duty struggling with another prisoner while a third officer appeared on the tape and before walking quickly towards Gannon's cell being careful not to show his face towards the camera as Tim continued, "He entered the cell at twelve-oh-four and left about four minutes later. Whoever the officer was, he knew where all the cameras were, and kept his face hidden. Abby's trying to see if she can make a composite of the officer's face using the different frames from the tape."

"What about the security video of Gannon's cell?" Kate asked, turning to look at the younger man.

"It was turned off at twelve -oh -three and turned back on at twelve -oh- nine." Tim answered before looking back at Gibbs and adding, "I have a list of all the officers on duty last night, Boss, and I'm currently checking where they were at the time of Gannon's death."

"Stay on it!" Gibbs ordered, distractedly, as his phone began to ring. Snatching it out of his pocket, he flicked it open, hitting the answer button before snapping, "Gibbs."

Kate and Tim watched the expression on their boss's face harden as he listened to the caller before he frowned and asked, "Gannon?" Gibbs's hand tightened around the phone as he listened to the caller's answer before he replied. "We're on our way!"

Snapping the phone closed, he turned and headed towards the elevator as he said over his shoulder. "Metro's attending a shooting in an apartment in Groveton. The victim works at Saint Dymphna Hospital."

"That's the same hospital where the car that was used in Tony's abduction was stolen from." Kate gasped in surprise as she and Tim grabbed their bags and hurried to catch up with Gibbs as he reached the elevator.

Slapping the elevator button, Gibbs continued, "The manager of the apartment building told the officer on the scene that the victim has a roommate that he hasn't seen in a couple of days…"

"Gannon?" Kate asked as the elevator doors slid open and they stepped inside.

"Gannon!" Gibbs growled as he hit the button to take them down to the basement and the car.

XXXXX

Climbing out of the car before it rocked to a complete stop in front of the old apartment building, Gibbs followed the uniformed Metro officer, who had been waiting for their arrival, into the building up to the second-floor apartment.

The Homicide detective looked up from the body as Gibbs entered the small apartment, with Kate and McGee following close behind. Rising to his feet, he crossed to the door as he met the three NCIS agents, "Agent Gibbs?"

Gibbs nodded , flashing his badge before nodding towards Kate and McGee and introducing them to the officer. Stepping further into the small, one room apartment, he asked. "What have you got?"

Nodding towards the victim who was sprawled on his back, his chest bloody and his eyes wide open, on the floor, the detective began his initial report, "Victim's name is Maurice Diamond. The apartment manager heard two shots about an hour ago but when he got up here to investigate, he found our vic here dead on the floor," Nodding towards the window where one of the Metro lab guys was busy dusting for fingerprints, he continued, "The window was open and the apartment empty. As I told you on the phone our vic here worked as an orderly at Saint Dymphna Hospital, the same hospital where the car was stolen and used in your agent's abduction."

Gibbs nodded impatiently as he glanced down at the victim before he looked back up and glanced around, "You said that his roommate was John Gannon."

"Yeah," the detective nodded, "the apartment manager told me that Gannon moved in about two months ago, But, get this Gibbs, the manager also told me that Diamond managed to get Gannon a job as an orderly at the hospital as well."

Snapping his head around in surprise to look at the officer, Gibbs asked, "Did he?"

The Homicide detective nodded as he walked across to the bed, "But that's not the most interesting discovery we made so far Gibbs, this is." Grabbing a pen out of his front shirt pocket and used it to lift a SIG-Sauer P228 off the bed by the trigger guard. "This look familiar?"

"It looks like my agent's weapon!" Gibbs studying the weapon before he turned to McGee and ordered. "McGee, check the serial number against the one issued to DiNozzo to make sure."

"Done, Boss," McGee said as the detective carefully dropped the gun into a plastic evidence bag and handed it across to McGee.

Accepting the bag, McGee turned and hurried out of the apartment.

"Found that baby in an open drawer on top of the most interesting piece of evidence," the metro detective continued, picking up a piece of paper that was already bagged. "Admission papers at the hospital. I found it odd that it would be with a gun that may belong to your missing agent. There aren't any other papers like that around, so it's not like either man had a habit of taking these things home with them."

Thanking the detective as he accepted the evidence bag that the detective handed to him, Gibbs studied the admission slip for a patient by the name of Randy Novak.

"It's dated the same night that Tony's disappeared," Kate said softly, looking up at her boss after reading the bagged and tagged admission slip that he had handed to her. "You don't think that this Randy Novak might actually be Tony?'

Gibbs nodded, glancing down at it before he looked back up at Kate and announced, "I think that we should pay another visit bto the hospital to find out just who the Hell this Randy Novak is and why Gannon would have his admission slip!"

XXXXXX

Slapping the warrant into the hands of the psychiatrist as they entered the ward, Gibbs announced, "This is a search warrant for the records of Randy Novak, and for us to search the ward for a missing NCIS agent," Gibbs continued, handing the startled doctor a photo of Tony, as McGee and Kate began to search the ward, "whom we believe was admitted to the ward under the false name of Randy Novak."

The doctor looked at the photograph Gibbs handed him and frowned in confusion as he studied the face in the photo before looking back up at the NCIS lead agent, "I don't understand, this is a photo of a missing NCIS agent?" Gibbs nodded as the doctor's frowned deepened, "There has to be some mistake, the man in this photo is one of our most psychotic and violent patients. I admitted him directly to the ward myself the other night."

Gibbs reached into his pocket and withdrew a plastic bag containing a sheet of paper, unfolding it carefully as he passed it across to the doctor, "And the patient you claim is Randy Novak was admitted to the ward late Sunday night?"

"Where did you get this?" The doctor demanded, "This is highly confidential information."

"We found it in the room of two orderlies who work in this ward and who are our prime suspects in the abduction of Agent DiNozzo on Sunday night." Nodding towards the photo in the doctor's hand Gibbs growled, "The photo you are holding in your hand is a photo of my missing agent."

"Oh my God," the doctor murmured, his face white as he stumbled back to sit on the chair behind him, "did you say his name is Agent DiNozzo? Agent Anthony DiNozzo?"

Gibbs nodded as he watched Kate and McGee peer through the small windows to the locked rooms just off the large day room, where the patients were watching them in fear or paced agitatedly.

"And you're Gibbs, Agent Gibbs, his boss?" Gibbs nodded again as the doctor's complexion grew even more grey with shock as he stared at the photo he still held in his hand before he looked back at Gibbs. "And I ... we… thought that he was suffering from delusions of grandeur, symptoms of his paranoid psychosis but he has been trying to tell us the truth all the time."

"Where is he?" Gibbs demanded.

The doctor blinked as he pleaded for understanding, "I didn't know. I thought that he was psychotic. He was displaying all the classic symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia when he presented for admission on Sunday night after attacking his father. I didn't suspect or question that he wasn't who his doctor and father said he was."

"Where is he?" Gibbs demanded impatiently again.

"Umm, the…the bath." The doctor stuttered, pointing across to a closed door on the other side of the day room. "The nurse said he became violent again when she tried to give him his medication, so he was placed in the bath to help settle him down," the doctor explained as he rose from his chair and followed Gibbs across to the bathroom.

Yanking the door open, Gibbs froze in shock. Tony was fully submerged in a bath, with only his head above the blue tarp that was spread across it. The young Special Agent's lips were blue, and his teeth were chattering and, even from the doorway, Gibbs could hear each wheezing breath Tony tried to take.


	13. Chapter 13

Pulling open the staff room door, Sarah Tomlinson stopped in mid-stride as she saw the lead NCIS agent heading across to the bathroom door with Doctor Simons who was clutching a sheet of paper and a photograph and slowly trailing behind Gibbs as she heard the doctor nervously explain,  _"… he was placed in the bath to help settle him down."_

"Shit!" she muttered as she quickly stepped back into the staff room and pulled the door closed, leaving it open just wide enough to watch as Gibbs opened the bathroom door. "Shit." she muttered again as she watched the lead agent and the doctor rush into the room. Quickly smoothing down her uniform before tucking back a loose strand of hair back beneath her starched nurse's cap, she opened the door and hurried across to the locked door to the ward, before pulling out her keys and unlocking it. She glanced over her shoulder as she heard the doctor's shouts for warm blankets and for someone to call an ambulance before she opened the door and slipped outside, hurrying towards the stairs.

XXXX

"Tony!" Gibbs gasped, shocked at the sight of his senior agent, fully submersed and restrained in the bath. "Somebody give me a hand to get him out of there," he ordered as the initial shock wore off.

"G-g-gibbs…?" Tony stuttered through chattering teeth as he turned lethargically towards the door and stared at the blurry figures standing there. "Is-is th-that really you, B-Boss?" His terrified whispered ended in a choking spasm of violent coughs.

"Yeah DiNozzo, it's me…Gibbs." Gibbs reassured Tony as he ran across to the bath and lightly touched Tony's face, shocked at how cold the young man felt to touch. "I'm here, Tony, everything's going to be alright, everything's going to be okay." he whispered as he watched McGee and Kate untie the tarp and quickly lift it away from the bath.

"What the Hell?" Gibbs demanded as he grabbed Tony to prevent him from slipping beneath the water. "Is this what you call therapy? It's nothing more than the treatment a patient could expect to receive in a God damn insane asylum right out of the last century!" he growled in anger as he found himself staring at a bath full of ice water in which Tony, restrained in a too tightly tied straitjacket, was submerged before he turned and glared at the psychiatrist. Gibbs was shocked that Tony was not shivering in the ice filled water.

Stepping forward, the doctor frowned in confusion and disbelief as he stared at the chunks of ice that were floating in the freezingly cold-water his patient was immersed in. "I don't understand; the water is supposed to be tepid!"

"Well it's not!" Gibbs roared at the doctor as he ordered, "Get him out of there, now!"

Turning to the orderlies and nurses who was staring from the doorway, the doctor yelled, "Someone call a damn ambulance!" as the orderlies pushed past and reached into the freezing water before helping Gibbs, Kate and Tim gently lift Tony up and out of the water.

"Let's get him onto a bed until the ambulance gets here, where he can be more comfortable. We need to get him out of that wet straitjacket and start trying to warm him up." the doctor ordered, holding the door to the bathroom open as Gibbs Kate, Tim and the orderlies carefully carried Tony out of the bathroom, before he hurried out and led them across to one of the corridors off the day room. Hurrying to open one of the bedroom doors, he continued to shout orders over his shoulder at his surprised and shocked staff, "We're going to need extra blankets and a warm drink to help him warm up and some oxygen. Where Nurse Tomlinson? Someone tell her I need her stat!"

"She left the ward a few minutes ago," one of the junior nurses answered timidly as she followed the small group into the room and watched them place Tony on the bed.

"Damn!" the doctor cursed before he ordered the nurse. "Help me get him out of this straitjacket."

"Yes doctor," she murmured as she hurried around to the other side of the bed, as Gibbs and McGee helped Tony to sit up as she unbuckled the jacket and tugged it free from his body.

"Now help me to get him out of his wet clothes." the doctor growled, his own anger rising at the staff's cruel treatment of patients under his watch as Tony's head lolled lethargically down onto his chest.

The nurse nodded nervously before helping the doctor strip Tony out of his wet clothes.

Grabbing two blankets, the doctor wrapped them tightly around Tony before grabbing two towels to cover Tony's head, tucking the towels securely into the blanket. Reaching for the oxygen mask one of the other nurses held out to him, he slipped it over Tony's face to help with his breathing before helping Gibbs ease the young agent back down onto the bed. Turning and accepting a third blanket from the nurse, he carefully covered Tony with it and tucked it tightly around him before pressing his fingers against Tony's neck as he explained. "He's hypothermic, we need to start warming him up immediately."

"Hey easy, Tony, easy. You need to keep the blankets on you to help warm you a little." Gibbs tried to calm the young man as Tony suddenly cried out in fear and began to struggle weakly, trying to push the blankets off, panicking at the sensation of being restrained again.

"G-Gibbs." Tony wheezed as he managed to get one arm free from beneath the blanket and desperately reached for Gibbs. "Are…are…you…really… here?... I…I'm not…dreaming…am... I?"

"No, you're not dreaming, DiNozzo, I'm really here," Gibbs hurriedly reassured him as he sat down on the edge of the bed and lightly rubbed the back of his hand gently against Tony's ice-cold cheek. "And I'm getting you out of this hell hole, I promise."

"I-I…knew...you…c-c-come... b-b-boss...I …told…her...you...would...come..." Tony coughed weakly, struggling to catch his breath as a nurse, carrying a mug of sugary hot tea, led the ambulance attendants, who wheeled a stretcher between them, into the room. "I-I…told...her..." Tony murmured again as his eyes slowly closed.

Staring at the unconscious young man as he gently released Tony's hand and stood up to allow the medical staff to lift Tony across to the stretcher, Gibbs was overwhelmed by how much faith Tony had placed in him, that he would find him and rescue him from this nightmare. Gibbs swallowed hard, as his chest tightened with guilt, although he had managed not to let Tony down, it had taken two days for him to do so.

Turning to follow Tony's stretcher as the attendants quickly wheeled it from the room, Gibbs ordered, "Kate contact Bethesda, tell them what has happened and that we're on our way. Then take the good doctor, here, back to the interrogation and get a Bolo out for Nurse Tomlinson. There's a couple of questions I want to ask them when I have finished at the hospital."

Turning to McGee, he ordered, "I want this ward searched for anything related to Tony's admission and treatment here, and any other evidence you might find of any other patients who may have been tortured here. Get some more agents down here to help you. Also get someone from Health Department here- I want this place investigated and closed down! "

"Done, Boss," McGee answered, pulling out his phone as Gibbs turned and hurried to catch up with Tony's stretcher and the medical staff surrounding it as they left the ward.


	14. Chapter 14

Sitting in his ornately furnished study, with an expensive smoking cigar in one hand and swirling the rich amber fluid in his large brandy glass in the other, Michael Novak sighed in annoyance as he heard frantic, loud knocking on his front door. He sighed again as the loud knocking continued and he realized that he had been foolish enough to give the maid the day off. A soft, guttural growl tore from his throat as the knocking became more urgent and insistent, and he slammed his brandy glass back down on the antique wooden desk before crushing out the cigar in the glass ashtray and rising to his feet. Striding out into the entrance foyer, his annoyance grew as he saw Sarah Tomlinson looking in the door's decorative glass window as she continued to bang her fist against the oak door.

Unlatching the lock, he threw open the door and glared at the nurse. "What the hell are you doing here? I told you to never come to my house. Always call!"

Brushing past him, Sarah declared agitatedly, "This is much too important to tell you over the phone."

"Oh, I'm sure it is, Sarah,” the wealthy businessman growled as he closed the door behind her before he turned to face her, with his hands on his hips, and demanded, “Well then, spit it out already!"

"The NCIS cops,” Sarah rushed on, the fear evident in her eyes as she turned back to the businessman, “they found him."

"Found who?" the man frowned in confusion, unable to follow the nurse’s maniacal and frightened ramblings.

"That NCIS cop, you idiot! I don't know how, but they found out where he was. They're there right now!"

"And just how the Hell did they find him, Sarah?" he growled as he began to pace the floor.

"I don't know!" she screamed. "Maurice said he was going to go to the cops, but I wasn't too worried, because he's always drunk anyway, and the cops would just think that he was another drunk telling a big story to get more money for his next drink. And they couldn't link the cop’s whereabouts through John. You said you had that taken care of."

"I did," Novak growled as he stopped pacing and stared at the nurse, “I took care of him and then Diamond, after you warned me Diamond was getting cold feet.”

"Well maybe you didn’t get rid of them fast enough!” Tomlinson hissed as she stared accusingly at her boss, “But I'm here only to tell you that I’m getting the hell out of this town, and I would suggest you do the same. They know that NCIS cop was admitted under your son's name, so it's only a matter of time before they come knocking on your door."

"Well, I'm sure if they do, they will find their time wasted.” Novak told her before walking toward the door in a silent order that it was time for her to leave, as he continued, “Now, I do believe you were saying something about leaving town? I'd get on that if I were you."

"Yeah, yeah,” the nurse snarled in anger at her silent dismissal as she hurried past him and out of the door before turning to face him again as she advised him, “If I was you, I would consider doing the same thing!”

The man only nodded before watching her rush down the stairs and before she ran out to her car parked in the street.  After watching her climb into her car and drive away, he then calmly strode back to his house and to the study before he made reached for the phone and made a call. He waited until the second ring until his call was answered before he barked, “I want Tomlinson taken care of, now!”

Slamming down the phone, he picked up his glass of brandy and sat down, as his thoughts turned to finding out just where that bastard, DiNozzo, was now.

xxxxx

"Noooo … don't!" Tony's terrified mumbled plea that ended in a choking cough broke Gibbs's heart as the medical staff lifted Tony from the stretcher across to the examination bed. "Nooo…." Tony cried out again, fighting with what little strength he had left to be free of the hands and the blankets that were wrapped around him, his fear evident in his face as he tried desperately to escape.

Moving swiftly across the room, Gibbs grabbed Tony's hand and held it tightly in his, shocked at how icy cold it still felt despite Tony being wrapped in several blankets, as he murmured softly, "You’re safe Tony, no one here is going to hurt you, I promise."

"G-g-gibbs?" Tony coughed as he struggled to keep his eyes open.

"Yeah, it's me, DiNozzo," Gibbs nodded, squeezing Tony's hand, "I'm here."

"His temperature is 87 degrees, doctor, pulse 62 and breathing 15 and shallow." the nurse said quietly as she shook the thermometer and replaced it into the kidney tray on the table beside the emergency room bed.

"We need to get his temperature up," the doctor murmured softly as he glanced down at his patient, "Let's get him on some warm humidified oxygen to help with his breathing and start a warmed saline drip. Also, let's get some blood drawn for a full blood count, drug screen and electrolytes. I also want a sputum test done."

"What about a warm bath?" the nurse suggested.

"N-n-nooo…no bath…." Tony gasped, wide eyed in panic, as he tried to release Gibbs’s hand and push the blankets away, struggling to sit up, "N-n-nno … bath."

"Easy, Tony, easy," Gibbs tried to sooth Tony again, gently pushing him back down on the bed and pulling the blankets back up over him before glaring up at the nurse. Looking back down at the terrified young man, he promised, "No bath, I promise, I won't let anyone put you in a bath."

Leaning down to ensure he was in his patient's line of sight, Dr Pitt lightly squeezed Tony shoulder as he tried to quietly reassure the frightened man, uncertain of just how coherent Tony really was, "No one is going to put you in a bath, Tony, but I do need you to try lie back down and keep the blankets on you. Your body temperature is too low, we need to warm you up a little." Glancing up at the nurse, he ordered firmly, "No bath. "

Blushing slightly, the nurse nodded, "No bath, doctor."

Straightening back up, the doctor ordered, "Okay, let's give him 5 cc of Valium, IV. and then commence him on antibiotics. Once he's sedated, I want a full set of chest x-rays. Let's see just how severe his pneumonia is."

"Pneumonia?" Gibbs asked, glancing up at doctor before looking back at Tony's white face as Tony tossed his head and began to mutter softly to himself. "The only w-way out… in a …p-pine box."

"I'm afraid so, Agent Gibbs,” the doctor looked up at the NCIS lead agent who had refused to leave his patient’s side before accepting the syringe the nurse handed him before carefully inserting the syringe into the IV port. After slowly injecting the contents of the syringe into the back of Tony's hand, Dr Pitt looked back across at Gibbs and tilted his head towards the door as Tony's eyes slowly closed. "He's sedated now, let's talk outside."

Gently placing Tony's hand back down on the bed, Gibbs covered it up with the blanket, before he promised the unconscious man, "I'll be back soon, DiNozzo."

Stepping away from the bed, Gibbs turned and followed the doctor from the examination room, taking a final glance towards the ill man in the bed to reassure himself the Tony was asleep before he left the room.

Leading the lead Special Agent across to the nurse's desk, Dr Pitt turned and faced the worried man, "I am not going to lie to you, Agent Gibbs, Agent DiNozzo’s condition is critical. He is suffering not only from severe hypothermia, but I also suspect he has double pneumonia and at least four broken ribs." Pausing as he glanced back at the closed examination door, the young doctor sighed before he continued, "We also have to deal with the hallucinations he is experiencing. You said they were giving him large doses of Stelazine?"

Gibbs nodded, "That's what was written in his file. The psychiatrist told McGee that the medication was given by injection because of Tony's refusal to co-operate with taking the medication."

"Hmm, the symptoms he is exhibiting aren’t the symptoms I would expect with a patient being given Stelazine.”  Dr Pitts mused softly, frowning, as he turned and looked towards the closed examination room doors opened and Tony’s stretcher was wheeled out.  Turning back to Gibbs, he lightly touched the worried lead agent’s arm as he said, “Why don’t you wait in the waiting room while I go with Agent DiNozzo to x-ray. I will be able to give you a better update on his condition after I see the x-rays and get the blood tests back and know just what we are dealing with."

Gibbs nodded reluctantly as the doctor turned and hurried after Tony’s stretcher and the nursing staff surrounding it before he pulled out his phone and hit a number on speed dial.


	15. Chapter 15

Staring out the waiting room window at the meticulously kept gardens, Gibbs turned as he heard the waiting room door open. He quickly smothered the disappointment he felt that it was not the doctor with the promised update on Tony's condition as he watched McGee enter the room.

If Tim saw the disappointment that had been quickly covered up in his boss's face, he did not react to it as he asked anxiously, "Any word on Tony, Boss?"

"He's just been taken to be x-rayed, the doctor believes Tony also has pneumonia and several broken ribs on top of the hypothermia. He will give us an update as soon as he knows more," Gibbs answered, glancing back towards the door before he looked back at McGee and demanded, "So, what have we got?"

"Not much, Gibbs, I got Nurse Tomlinson's address from the hospital and I have already checked to see if she was there, but the landlord said she returned a couple of hours ago and left a few minutes later. I have a couple of Metro PD officers watching the place in case she returns."

"Any results with the BOLO?"

"Nothing yet, but the landlord was able to give us a description of the car she was driving, and the hospital confirmed it was one of theirs. I've got a BOLO out on the car as well." McGee answered before adding, "I collected all the records pertaining to Tony's admission, Boss, they are back at headquarters. Also, several officials from the Health Department have arrived at the hospital to start their investigation, and are going over the place with a fine-tooth comb. They asked me to tell you that they will be transferring all the patients to other hospitals and will co-operate fully with our investigation."

"What about the name that Tony was admitted under, Randy…" Gibbs demanded.

"Randy Novak," McGee automatically supplied the name. "Ran the name, Boss, and got a hit. Randy Novak is a real person, twenty- five years old, last known address was Oregon Knolls Drive in Barnaby Woods where he lived with his father. Metro PD responded to several domestic violence calls about four or five years ago after neighbors claimed they saw Randy roaming the estate, extremely paranoid and agitated, making threats against his father but each time they responded the father claimed that there was no problem and refused to press charges."

Gibbs frowned, "So the real Randy Novak could have a psychiatric illness?"

McGee nodded but anything he was about to say was forgotten as the waiting room door opened and Dr Pitt stepped inside.

"Doc?" Gibbs asked worriedly as he took a step towards the young doctor, "How is he?"

Nodding towards the hard, plastic chairs, Dr Pitt waited until Gibbs and McGee were seated before he sat down with them and began, "I'm afraid that the x-rays confirmed what I suspected, Agent Gibbs, Agent DiNozzo has pneumonia and four broken ribs on the right side of his chest, probably from being beaten and kicked. I have started him on a course of antibiotics but combined with the severe hypothermia and the drugs in his system, I'm afraid Tony is a very sick young man."

"But he is going to be alright?" Gibbs asked anxiously, wanting… no, needing the reassurance that Tony would recover from the nightmare he had been thrust into.

"I have him listed as critical at the moment, so we can monitor him closely in the ICU as he warms up and I am still waiting for the results of the drug screen test, I suspect that we are dealing with more than just anti-psychotic medications in his system. Even if there are no complications, physically he should be looking good for a full recovery but mentally… mentally, after being placed in a straightjacket and locked up for days in a padded room in an insane asylum, drugged and enduring the barbaric outdated treatment used to torture him, I'm afraid that Tony is going to need a lot of psychological support…"

"He'll get it, Doc," Gibbs promised solemnly.

The young doctor nodded, aware that the alder man sitting opposite him would move heaven and earth in an attempt to ensure that his agent would get everything he needed to make a full recovery, before he warned softly, "But even then, Agent Gibbs, I don't know if it will be enough."

Gibbs swallowed hard, trying to force down the large lump that had formed in his throat, threatening to choke him, before he asked through the tightness in his throat, "Can we see him?"

"Can I stop you?" Dr Pitt smiled, glancing down at his watch before he looked back up at the two NCIS Agents and announced, "They should have Tony settled in his room. He's heavily sedated but you can have five minutes."

"Thanks, Doc," Gibbs nodded in agreement as the three men rose to their feet and headed out of the small waiting room.

XXXXX

Sitting in her car, staring at the entrance doors to Bethesda Hospital, Sarah Tomlinson chewed on her bottom lip. Every instinct in her body screamed at her to flee, to get away from Washington DC as fast as she could. The money that Novak had paid her to grab the NCIS cop and hide him away in the asylum for the rest of what she had planned would be his very short life could fund a comfortable retirement anywhere in the country, heck, with the fifty thousand dollars he had paid her upfront for her services meant that she could go anywhere in the world if she wanted to, maybe even somewhere tropical where there they had no extradition agreement with the USA.

But before she left, there was one more little detail she needed to take care of. Novak may not be concerned about DiNozzo being found, after all he still had plans for the NCIS agent and enough money to pay off anyone who got in his way and richly reward anyone who agreed to help with his plans. Novak may not be concerned but there was no way she was going to leave the NCIS cop alive to be able to testify that she had anything more to do with his kidnapping than just being an innocent nurse who was carrying out the doctor's orders.

After climbing out the car, she smoothed down her crisply ironed white nurse's uniform and adjusted her nurse's cap, before she walked across and confidently entered the foyer area of Bethesda Hospital, heading directly across to the reception desk. Standing in front of the desk, she waited patiently until the young receptionist looked up at her. Giving the young woman a small, nervous smile, she quickly looked around before she leaned across the desk and said softly, "I'm really hoping you can do me a huge favour. You see, I've been called in to take care of a patient has been admitted to the hospital this afternoon, Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo. It's kind of a hush, hush case, but when I agreed to do the overtime, I was a little distracted and didn't hear what room he is in. I'm hoping that you might be able to tell me what room is he in? I really don't want to ask the nursing supervisor; you know how she can be…"

Looking up at the slightly flustered nurse, the receptionist smiled and nodded in understanding, the last time she had a run -in with the senior supervising nurse, she had definitely come off second- best, the woman may have exemplary bedside manners when it came to dealing with patients, but she had a sharp tongue and an almost dictatorial attitude when it came to dealing with staff. "I know what you mean," the young woman nodded in agreement before quickly running her finger down the list of names and looking back at the nurse, "Special Agent DiNozzo has just been admitted to the ICU, room 204."

Leaning forward, she lightly grabbed the nurse's arm as the nurse murmured her 'thanks' and began to straighten up. Casting a quick furtive glance around to ensure that no one was in earshot, she waited until the nurse leaned back down before she asked softly, "Hey before you go, I'm wondering is it true that Agent DiNozzo was the agent who was kidnapped, and they found him locked up in the old Saint Elizabeth asylum? I heard that it has sent him a little…" Glancing around again to ensure no one was listening, she pulled Sarah closer as she whispered, "Crazy!"

Leaning closer so she could murmur her answer into the young receptionist's ear, Sarah smiled as she answered, conspiratorially, "That's why I was asked to come in and do one on one nursing with him. Apparently from what I was told he's so crazy that he has to have someone with him in his room at all times, so he doesn't become a threat to the nurses and doctors and they called me in because I have had training in cases like this. It's all got to be kept a little hush, hush though, I guess NCIS don't want it to get out to the press that one of their agents has gone around the twist, if you know what I mean."

The receptionist nodded, her smile growing at being in the know as she whispered, "Oh, I know precisely what you mean."

Sarah nodded as she pulled back a little and looked down at the receptionist, "Remember this is a very delicate case, it would be horrible if word got out about what happened to Agent DiNozzo."

Touching her nose, the receptionist's smile widened into an excited grin as she sat back in her chair and looked up at Sarah, "I won't tell a soul."

"Thank you, it would be horrible for it to get out." Sarah smiled as she straightened back up, "I better get up to the ICU and to my patient. Room 204, you said?"

"That's right," the receptionist nodded eagerly as she watched the nurse turn and head towards the elevator. She waited until the elevator doors opened and the nurse stepped inside before she reached for her phone and dialed a familiar number. She only had to wait for a heartbeat before she heard Brenda, the medical records receptionist answer before she whispered into the phone, "Oh Brenda, I have something to tell you. Remember I told you about that NCIS Agent who was just admitted, the one that went missing in missing the other day, the one they said was grabbed from his apartment, well…"

Xxxxxx

 _"Is it true that Special Agent DiNozzo was the officer who was kidnapped, and they found him locked up in the old Saint Elizabeth asylum? I heard that it has sent him a little…Crazy!"_ Staring at the 5th floor light as it flashed as the elevator past the 5th floor, Sarah chuckled as she impatiently waited for the elevator to jerk to a stop. Stepping out of the elevator as soon as the doors slid open, Sarah did not even notice the small, frail lady, who was waiting to step into the elevator, whom she almost knocked over in her rush to get to the ICU and DiNozzo. She was acutely aware that it would only be a matter of time before the stupid young woman in reception told everyone who would listen to her gossip about the special nurse who was called in to nurse the NCIS Agent who went crazy after being kidnapped and hidden in the nuthouse right here in Washington DC.

Entering the ICU, she took a deep breath and looked around. Spotting the ICU room, she was looking for, she calmly walked forced herself to calmly walk towards Tony's ICU room. A small smile crept across her lips as she watched two nurses emerge from the room and headed away from her down the corridor to their next patient's room. Reaching DiNozzo's room, she glanced inside and saw it was empty except for the sleeping patient. Casting a last quick furtive glance around to ensure that her presence had not attracted any unwanted attention, she quickly entered the room and closed the door firmly behind her. Leaning against the door, her smile grew as her eyes traveled over the equipment that surround the man in the bed.

"My, my," she whispered as she pushed herself away from the door and wandered slowly across to stand next to the young man in the bed, "looks like they are giving you the full treatment." Reaching up she fingered the bag hanging above the bed, turning it slightly so she could read the bag's label, releasing it and allowing it to swing back around as she looked back down at the sedated patient and murmured, "Warm saline drip, IV antibiotics, heated blankets, humidified oxygen, even a heart monitor to monitor your heart while you warm up. Bet the only thing they didn't give you was a nice warm bath." She laughed as she fingered the drip's thin plastic tubing, "But then again, a nice warm bath isn't quite as effective as a nice icy, cold one, don't you agree?"

She waited for a reaction, but shrugged, unconcerned, when no reaction was forthcoming, as she reached into her pocket and removed two small vials before placing them on the small bedside table. "I do think it's a shame they are wasting all their time and effort on you. Someone should have told them that no one gets out of Saint Dympha unless it's in a pine box, especially you!"

She reached back into her pocket and withdrew a syringe, uncapping the needle before she picked up one of the small vials and stabbed the needle through the rubber stopper. "You see, I can't take the chance that you might remember that I was there when we grabbed you," she told the unconscious man as she carefully drew up the medication from the first vial before removing the needle and inserting it into the second vial. "We had it all planned, you would have stayed there the rest of your life as a patient in the security ward at Saint Dympha Hospital, and nobody would have been the wiser, except for those two bumbling idiots who screwed everything up and led your boss straight to us." she growled as she withdrew the needle from the second vial and reached for the drip's tubing, kinking it a few inches above where it was inserted into the back of Tony's hand. "But they have been taken care of and once I take care of you, there's no way anyone who will be able to link me to your kidnapping. I will just be the poor overworked nurse who was just following orders," she grinned, "But I'm afraid your death won't be an easy one, sorry about that but as Luther told you, ain't no way out except in a pine box."

Hearing the door open behind her, she turned with the needle still in her hand. Recognizing Gibbs as he, the doctor and McGee entered the room, she grinned at the shocked look on their faces before she turned and carefully inserted the needle into the bung of the IV tubing, she smiled, "I'm afraid you're a little too late to the party, boys. This potassium works pretty fast in a dose this high."

Reacting almost instantly to the threat to Tony's life, Gibbs unholstered his gun and aimed it at the nurse as he stepped closer to the bed and ordered, "Drop the syringe and move away from the bed!"

Reacting just as fast as his boss, McGee pushed the doctor back out of the room and drew his own weapon, training it on the nurse's back but the nurse ignored them both and the two weapons that were aimed at her as she began to inject the potassium into Tony's IV line.

"I said drop the syringe!" Gibbs ordered again, edging closer, aware that he could not risk shooting her for fear of hitting Tony.

Calmly finishing the injection, Sarah pulled the needle free before she turned and looked at Gibbs. Her cold smile grew into an insane grin as she allowed the syringe to drop from her hand as she said cryptically, "Luther always says there's no way out of Saint Dympha except in a pine box. I always thought that he was talking about the patients." She shrugged as the smile slipped from her lips and a single tear trickled down her cheek as she looked past Gibbs and McGee at the door and freedom.

Looking back at Gibbs, she raised her hands in defeat as she forced a small smile, "But I guess I was wrong, maybe he was talking about the staff as well!" Taking a small step away from the bed towards Gibbs as Gibbs lowered his gun, she shrugged, "But I guess that pine box Luther is always rambling about is much more preferable than a life being locked up in an insane asylum or in prison."

Suddenly turning away from the silver haired lead NCIS agent as Gibbs stepped towards her and reached for her arm, she lunged at the room's window, smashing through it and falling the six stories, down to the pavement, where she landed with a hard thump, face first, onto the hard surface below.

People outside quickly gathered around the body, shocked and disgusted at the scene before them as Gibbs and McGee ran to the window, shocked at what the nurse had just done.


	16. Chapter 16

"What happened?" the doctor demanded as he shouldered past Gibbs and ran to the bed, before he began to examine his unconscious patient as several nurses rushed into the room.

"She said she injected him with a high dose of potassium." Gibbs swallowed hard, still shocked at the unexpected turn of events as his eyes drifted to the smashed window as Tim turned and rushed from the room.

"Doctor." The nurse said quietly as she picked up the two empty vials that she found sitting on the bedside table and held them both up for him to see.

Quickly glancing at the two vials held in the nurse's hand, the doctor looked up at the heart monitor and cursed as he watched the fast irregular blips dance across the screen before he clamped off the drip and began to shout orders, "Let's get him into one of the other rooms and get him started on dextrose and insulin in water, with a Calcium chloride infusion. Also let's give him one amp of 7.5% sodium bicarbonate IV push over 5 minutes, we need to get these arrhythmias under control."

"Yes, doctor." The nurse acknowledged the orders as she hurried out of the room to collect the needed medications.

"Also, I want a ventilator and the crash cart." The doctor ordered over his shoulder as he quickly began to examine Tony, grimacing as he noticed the first signs of paralysis in Tony's face.

Gibbs stepped aside as a second nurse rushed from the room before he took a small step towards the bed and asked almost timidly, "Doc?"

"Not now!" The doctor snapped distractedly, as he helped a nurse disconnect the heart monitor, before they began to roll the bed towards the door, before he ordered, "Someone get him out of the way and then call Morten from Urology, tell him we need him to do a dialysis, stat!"

"Agent Gibbs, please come with me." The middle-aged nurse gently grabbed Gibbs's arm and firmly led him out of the room to the waiting area, "I'm sure the doctor will be out to update you on Agent DiNozzo's condition as soon as he can." She told him before she turned and hurried across to the nurse's station and picked up the phone as Gibbs turned back to stare at the room where Tony had just been wheeled into as a request for Dr Morten to attend the ICU, Stat, echoed over the hospital intercom.

"Gibbs!"

He turned as he heard McGee called out his name and watched as Tim hurried down the corridor towards him.

"How is he?" Tim asked anxiously as he glanced towards the room Tony had been occupying only minutes before.

"They're working on him now."

Tim swallowed hard, the guilt he felt for leaving Tony alone and allowing that mad woman the chance to get into Tony's hospital room was crushing down on his soul. He forced himself to push it away, aware that he would have to answer to Gibbs for his actions later, as he began. "Nurse Tomlinson's dead. Looks like she died instantly, Boss. Metro are taking care of things downstairs."

Gibbs nodded absently, as he continued to watch the flurry of nurses and doctors entering and leaving Tony's room. "This is my fault, McGee, I should have known that she was still a threat," Gibbs shook his head as he turned back to his young probie, "I thought that she had fled because of her treatment of the patients in the asylum, not because she was somehow connected to Tony's kidnapping." Gibbs paused, staring unseeingly ahead as he frowned.

"Boss?" Tim frowned.

"But maybe she was, McGee.” Gibbs said slowly, “It would have been easy for her to admit Tony under the fake name."

"Do you think she was behind this?" Tim asked wide eyed.

"I don't know but I want to know everything we can about her and any dealings she may have had with Tony. There has to be a connection somewhere there between Tomlinson and Tony," Gibbs answered distractedly as he turned and looked towards Tony's new ICU room as the doctors and nurses emerged. Tapping Tim's arm. Gibbs nodded towards the doctor who was walking down the corridor to where they were waiting.

"How is he, Doc?" Gibbs asked as Tim turned around and the doctor reached them.

"He's an extremely lucky young man who must have a guardian angel sitting on his shoulder." the doctor announced as he nodded his thanks to the second doctor who had left Tony's room and walked past them. Returning his attention back to the two anxious police officers standing in front of him, he began to update them on Tony's condition, "The large dose of potassium he received causes severe heart arrhythmias." Noticing the confused expressions on both men's faces he explain. "It affected the way Agent DiNozzo's heart was beating and it also caused some temporary paralysis which affected his breathing. We were able to use some medications that stabilized his heart and have placed him on a ventilator to help him breath while the potassium is in his system. Unfortunately, the only way to effectively remove the potassium from his body before it causes more damage is to do so by dialysis." The doctor paused and smiled, "But as well as removing the potassium, we can use the dialysis to also treat his hypothermia by warming his blood artificially and warming him up internally. I won't lie to you; this is a setback that Agent DiNozzo did not need but I do believe that he his chances of recovery is good."

"Thank God." Tim murmured.

"Can we see him?" Gibbs asked.

"I'm sorry, I would like his condition to stabilize a little more before I allow any visitors." The doctor told them firmly.

Gibbs nodded before he turned to Tim and ordered, "McGee, I want you to guard Tony's room. No one and I mean no one, McGee is allowed into his room without prior approval from myself or the doctor and that includes the medical staff."

“No one, Boss, got it!” Tim answered before he turned back and headed towards Tony’s new hospital room.

Turning back to the doctor, Gibbs asked, "I'm going to need a list of all the staff who are involved in Tony's treatment."

The doctor nodded, "Of course, I will get you a list of their names now."

"Thank you, Doctor, for everything." Gibbs smiled with relief as he followed the doctor back to the nurse's station.

 


	17. Chapter 17

Thanking the apartment manager for unlocking the door, Kate and Gibbs waited until the elderly man reluctantly walked away before they opened the door and stepped into the tiny but extremely immaculately kept one-bedroom apartment accompanied by two Metro officers. Closing the door, Gibbs, confident that Tony was safe for the moment with McGee guarding his hospital room door, turned and hurried across to the small living area as Kate and the other officers each headed into the different rooms to search. They began to pull open drawers and search every nook and cranny as they searched for evidence that would not only connect Sarah Tomlinson to Tony's kidnapping and admission to the asylum but which would also link the crime to the other two dead accomplices and more importantly provide a reason why Tony had been targeted.

"Agent Gibbs!"

Gibbs looked up from the small stack of mail that had been left unopened on the coffee table that he was going through as one of the officers stepped out of the bedroom, "I think you will want to see this."

Dropping the mail back onto the table, Gibbs hurried into the bedroom.

"I found this hidden under the mattress." The officer said as he nodded towards a clear plastic bag stuffed full of bundles of hundred-dollar bills laying on the bare base of the bed. "There's at least fifty thousand dollars there."

"And I just found this dumped in the small trash can in the kitchen." Kate announced as she hurried into the bedroom holding onto the edge of a small torn and crumbled piece of paper with his handkerchief.

Gibbs turned before he reached into his pocket, quickly pulling out his reading glasses and putting them on before accepting the piece of paper from Kate. Quickly scanning the couple of lines of untidy and almost indecipherable words written on the page, Gibbs looked up at Kate, "Tony's name and address. But look at the last line."

Kate frowned as she read over his Gibbs's shoulder and tried to decipher the single word scrawled in the shaky handwriting. Her frown deepened as she looked back at Gibbs. "Sunday?"

Gibbs nodded, "The day Tony was grabbed."

"Agent Gibbs."

Gibbs handed the piece of paper back to Kate before he turned and hurried back to where the officer was kneeling next to the open drawer of the bedside table that he had been searching. Looking down into the open drawer, Gibbs found himself staring at several full and partially full drug vials plus a selection of needles and syringes. Reaching into the drawer he gently rolled one of the vials over, exposing the label. "Trifluoperazine," he frowned.

"Stelazine." Kate told him softly, shrugging as Gibbs glanced up at her in surprise, before she explained how she knew, "I remember reading that Tony had been given doses of Trifluoperazine in the file they kept on Tony in the asylum. I wasn't sure what it was, so I asked one of the nurses and she told me that Stelazine was the generic name of Trifluoperazine."

"It helps to explain why Stelazine was used during Tony's abduction." Gibbs mused.

Kate nodded, agreeing with Gibbs's theorizing, "She would have had easy access to it at the hospital. All she had to do was grab a couple of vials and nobody would know."

"So, we now know that Sarah Tomlinson was involved in not just torturing Tony in the asylum, but also  his kidnapping," Gibbs breathed as he picked up one of the drug vials and examined it more closely before he turned on his heels and looked at bag of money, stuffed full of one hundred-dollar bills still laying on the base of the bed and sighed. "But we still don't know just who was behind Tony's kidnapping or why Tony was admitted under the name of a man who has already been diagnosed with a mental illness." Handing the vial across to Kate, he added, "But I think it's time to have a chat with Randy Novak and see if he can answer some of our questions."

"Did you say Randy Novak?" The young Metro officer asked, looking up at Gibbs and Kate.

Gibbs frowned, glancing at Kate before he looked down at the young officer, "Yes, do you know him?"

The officer shrugged as he stood back up, "Not personally but my wife Emma might. She works as a nurse's assistant at the Rosta Private Health Clinic. I remember her telling me about one of her patients named Randy Novak, who died a few weeks ago from pneumonia.

He was transferred to Rosta about four years ago from Baltimore. She said it was a sad case. It seems that this Randy had some sort of reaction to some medication he was given for schizophrenia after he was committed as a patient in some hospital in Baltimore. Apparently, the medication he was given turned him into a vegetable, unable to speak, move or even feed himself. Emma told me that his father, Michael, I think she said his name was, had him transferred down here to the Rosta Clinic, I think he was hoping for some sort of a miracle after hearing about the new behavioural techniques used instead of drugs at the clinic.

She told me that his father used to visit him every day, that he never gave up hope that one day his son would walk out with him, a well man, despite the fact that the doctors told him that his son's condition is permanent, that he was never going to recover. She told me it was sad because she knew it would never happen, but his father never gave up hope, even right up to the end."

"And you're sure that she said the patient's name was Randy Novak?" Gibbs asked.

"Positive." The officer nodded, "The reason I remember is because I have never seen Emma get so upset about a patient before. Usually, she is able to keep it on a professional level, but this patient Randy and his father really got under her skin."

Looking at Gibbs, Kate asked, "Do you think that he’s the same one?"

Gibbs nodded, "Has to be." Turning to the officer, he asked, "You're sure the patient your wife was talking about was Randy Novak and he was from Baltimore?"

"Yeah, positive." The officer nodded.

Looking back at Kate, Gibbs frowned, "McGee said that Randy Novak’s last known address was here in Washington but the last contact that Metro PD had with him was at least four or five years ago when they responded to numerous call outs to his father’s home, all relating to his worsening psychiatric illness and suddenly the calls about Randy’s behavior stopped.” Gibbs growled.

Kate stared at Gibbs as she realized what he was thinking, “Maybe the calls to Metro stopped because he moved to Baltimore.”

“Ya think, Kate?” Gibbs growled before he turned and headed towards the door as he ordered over his shoulder ordered, "I want you to stay here and finish searching the apartment. Then interview that damn psychiatrist who admitted Tony to the asylum."

"Where are you going?" Kate asked.

“To talk to Randy Novak’s doctor at the Rosta Clinic.”


	18. Chapter 18

Thanking the Baltimore Homicide lieutenant before snapping his phone closed, ending the conversation, Gibbs looked up at the modern, ultra-white cement multi- story façade of the Rosta Medical Clinic as he mulled over the phone call conversation that he had just had with Tony’s lieutenant from Baltimore homicide. The lieutenant had just confirmed Gibbs’s suspicions that there was a direct link between Randy Novak, the young man whose name had been used to admit Tony to the St Elizabeth asylum, and Tony.

The lieutenant told him about a night four years before when Baltimore PD had received a phone call from the Novak estate from a terrified maid, claiming that Randy Novak had attacked his father and she feared that he was going to kill him. Tony, who had driving been close by had also responded to back up the two officers who were attending the incident, in case they needed extra assistance. 

The lieutenant said that the two uniformed officers had initially believed Randy's father that Randy's behaviour was caused by drugs. Michael Novak had even insisted that he had seen his son injecting drugs shortly before the attack, a claim that was later refuted by the drug screen results. But Tony, after listening to Randy’s wild paranoid ramblings had been convinced that Randy's behaviour was not the result of any drug taking but the behaviour of a paranoid schizophrenic. After observing Randy for a few minutes longer, both officers had agreed with Tony's assessment and decided a trip to a psych ward rather than jail was the correct way to go.

The Baltimore Homicide lieutenant went on to say that Michael Novak had been livid when they had told him where they were taking his son to be assessed by a psychiatrist. He had continued to insist that his son had just taken too many drugs and a night or two to get the drugs out of his system, he should be right to return home. He had blamed Tony for the decision to take his son to an 'insane asylum'. The lieutenant had rushed to tell Gibbs that those were Michael's words not his.

Michael Novak had fought his son's commitment all the way, even going to court in an attempt to secure his son's release, the man believed that psychiatry was no more when some hocus-pocus form of medicine developed solely to line the pockets of the psychiatrists, and all the patients really needed were vitamins, self-will and some regimented order to their lives. He had fought his son's commitment all the way but his please, begging and threats did nothing to sway the judge, who was convinced that Randy would have been in a much better place if he had been helped before he had gotten to the point of trying to kill his own father.

Although Randy had been committed to the secure acute care psychiatric unit at Baltimore General, he had been transferred to the less secure Rosta Clinic unit in Washington DC only a few weeks later but the lieutenant wasn’t able to tell Gibbs the reason why. A few weeks later Michael Novak sold his multi-million-dollar estate and also moved away but the lieutenant had no idea where Novak had moved to although he suspected that Novak had followed his son to DC.

Gibbs opened the car door and hopped out before slamming it closed again. Heading towards the entrance doors leading into the hospital and the second floor where he had been told the psychiatric ward was located. A soft growl escaped from his throat as he mulled over everything the Baltimore police lieutenant had told him and the missing link between Tony and Randy Novak.

Tony had responded to the Novak estate the night that Randy Novak had suffered a severe psychotic episode and Tony was the officer who had convinced the other officers who had also attended the estate that night that, despite Michael Novak’s insistence that drugs were the cause behind Randy’s wild homicidal behavior, Randy was suffering from some sort of mental illness and desperately needed psychiatric help. Help that his father had objected vigorously to.

And now Tony had been checked into an asylum under Randy Novak's name. He had been given a battery of drugs to make him appear as if he really were insane. The psychiatrist, who had admitted Tony to the asylum, had described Tony's behavior much in the same way Tony and the other responding officers had described Randy's behavior the night that Randy had been committed.

Walking across to the elevator, Gibbs hit the button and waited for the elevator to descend to the first floor. He didn't believe in co-incidences, and his gut was telling him that somehow the mysterious Michael Novak and his son's enforced admission and subsequent commitment to a psychiatric institution was connected to Tony’s kidnapping, but he desperately needed to know some answers to some of his questions. Why was Randy moved so quickly from a secure to a less secure facility only weeks after his commitment? What was Sarah Tomlinson's connection to Randy and his father and who else was involved? Where was Michael Novak now? And was what happened to Tony a case of twisted revenge or something else?

Stepping into the elevator as soon as the doors slid open, Gibbs pressed the button to take him to the second floor, watching as the doors slid silently shut. He hoped that he was about to find some of the answers to his questions from the psychiatrist who was treating Randy Novak before the young man’s death.

xxxx

The psychiatrist looked over the top of his glasses that were perched on the bridge of his nose at the NCIS agent who took a seat on the other side of his desk.

"Thank you, Emma," he smiled at the young nurse after she hastily made the introductions before dismissing her with, "That will be all. Please close the door as you leave and please make sure we are not disturbed."

The young nurse blushed, "Yes, Doctor Lawrence." She murmured before she turned and hurried out of the room.

"I understand that you want to ask me about one of my patients, Randy Novak," he began without preamble, looking back at the Gibbs as the young nurse, who had escorted the NCIS lead agent to his office, turned and left the room, closing the door behind her.

"That’s right, Doc," Gibbs nodded, "But it's not really Randy Novak, I'm interested in, it's his father."

The psychiatrist frowned in confusion, "Randy's father, Michael Novak? I don't understand, just what's this all about, Agent Gibbs?"

"My agent was one of the Baltimore police officers who responded to Michael Novak's home the night Randy attacked his father and was one of the officers who decided to transport Randy to the Baltimore General Hospital Psychiatric ward, the night Randy was committed against his father's wishes," Gibbs began to explain. "He was kidnapped from his apartment four days ago, before being drugged and admitted under Randy Novak's name to the St Elizabeth Asylum."

"He was admitted to St Elizabeth under Randy's name?" The psychiatrist asked, his frown deepening with concern, "And you think Randy’s Novak’s father, Michael, may somehow have been involved in your agent's abduction and admission?"

"One of the men involved in his kidnaping and admission claimed to be Randy Novak’s father," Gibbs answered.

"I see," the psychiatrist said softly before he stood up and walked across to the large metal filing cabinet in the corner of the room as he asked over his shoulder, "You said that your agent was one of the Baltimore police officers who decided to take Randy to Baltimore General the night he was committed."

Watching as the psychiatrist unlocked and then opened the top drawer of the cabinet before rifling through the files, Gibbs nodded again, "Yes he was, he was a homicide detective with the Baltimore PD."

"Your agent's name wouldn't be DiNozzo, would it?" The doctor asked as he found the file he was searching for and pulled it free before slamming the drawer closed and turning to walk back to his desk.

"That's right,” Gibbs nodded, keeping the surprise out of his voice that the psychiatrist knew Tony’s name as the psychiatrist sat back down and placed the file on his desk in front of him. “Anthony DiNozzo.”

"I was always afraid that something might happen to your agent, but I never expected anything like this,” the psychiatrist sighed before asking, "How is he?'

"Critical." Gibbs growled before he demanded, "Just what do you mean that you were afraid that something might happen to him?"

Looking down at the open file in front of him, before looking back at the tense Homicide Gibbs sitting opposite him, the psychiatrist answered Gibbs's question with one of his own, "And you think that Michael Novak might somehow be connected to what happened to your agent?'

Gibbs gave a single curt nod, not trusting his voice to speak as he felt his anger begin to boil that the even though the psychiatrist had feared Tony was in danger, that he had never warned him.

"I see," the psychiatrist said quietly. "And just what is it about Randy and his father that you think I might be able to help you with, Agent Gibbs?"

"Well, Doctor, I was hoping that you might be able to tell me a little background on Randy Novak and his admission to Baltimore General the night of the attack and his transfer to here. But I am more interested Michael Novak and your own observations of him, and maybe a current address."

"I see, well as you are probably already aware, Randy Novak died several weeks ago from natural causes. Although I can't talk to you about the specifics of Randy's case but I can tell you is Randy Novak was a paranoid schizophrenic with homicidal tendencies. He was transferred to our facility about three years ago. But I'm afraid that's all I can tell you due to doctor/patient confidentiality, but I see no reason why I can't talk to you about his father, as long as it doesn't involve Randy’s treatment or illness." The psychiatrist began a little cryptically as he opened the file and pushed his glasses higher up on the bridge of his nose before flicking through the pages in the file until he found the page he was looking for.

 Looking back up at Gibbs, he explained, "What I am going to tell you is from my own observation of Randy's father from the very limited, and I do mean limited, interactions that I have had with him since his son has come under my care. The man avoids me like the plague. He has the very firm belief that all psychiatrists are charlatans, I'm afraid, and is at times quite vocal in sharing his opinion."

"I gather that he has caused some problems for you?" Gibbs frowned.

"He has tried," the psychiatrist answered honestly, "Michael Novak does not believe in psychiatry or that his son even suffered from a mental illness. And I have no doubts that he blames your agent for Randy's admission and for what happened to his son after his admission to Baltimore General Hospital. I'm afraid I can't get into that, not without a court order." The psychiatrist reminded Gibbs before he added, "But what I can say tell you is I believe that Randy's condition was heredity. His mother, June was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia when she was a teenager and she later committed suicide by jumping off the roof of the family mansion in Baltimore a few weeks after she tried to drown Randy when he was a toddler."

Gibbs's frown deepened with confusion, "I don't understand, if she was dangerous then why wasn't she committed or in jail after the attempt to murder her child? How was she allowed home so soon?"

"The answer to that question was her husband and Randy's father, Michael Novak," the psychiatrist answered. "I don't know he did it, but he managed to convince everyone that he could handle his wife at home. That Randy's attempted drowning was accidental caused by June forgetting to take her medication. Medication that I doubt that she was ever prescribed."

"And everybody took his word for it?" Gibbs asked, his confusion growing.

The psychiatrist nodded, "You see, Gibbs, if I had to diagnosis Michael Novak, I would have no hesitation in diagnosing him as a psychopath. The man has no real emotions or any true empathy towards others, even towards his wife or even his own son before either one of them died. He is extremely manipulative and can charm others to get them to do as he wants. And that's what I think happened when his wife tried to murder their son, possibly while suffering a psychotic break. He could not stand the thought of anyone knowing or even himself admitting that his wife was so mentally ill that she could attempt to murder their child or that she should be committed not only for her own safety but for everyone else's as well. So, he turned on the charm and possibly greased a few palms and made the problem go away."

"And the night that his son tried to attack him?" Gibbs asked, a sick feeling settled in his stomach as he waited for the psychiatrist's answer.

"I am guessing that the charm didn't work and his worst fears were realized when Agent DiNozzo refused to accept his explanation for Randy's behaviour was because of drugs and was able to convince the other two officers who responded with him that Randy needed to be assessed mentally." Dr Lawrence explained quietly, "The loss of control over the situation and his son's eventual commitment and what occurred later, I am guessing has probably tipped Michael over the edge but that is strictly just my own opinion. As I said before the man avoided me like the plague and I believe it's because he feared that I will be able to see the real him that he is hiding from the rest of the world."

"So, do you think it's possible that Michael Novak could have been behind my agent's kidnapping and commitment to the St Elizabeth insane asylum?" Gibbs asked.

"Do I think it's possible? Yes, but unfortunately to prove it, you will have to find the evidence that he is behind it and that won't be easy because he has the motivation and the means to hide his tracks well." The psychiatrist warned Gibbs as he grabbed a pen and began to scribble something down on the notepad before tearing off the page and handing it across the desk to Gibbs. "You wanted Michael Novak's current address. This is the address and phone number he gave us when Randy was admitted to the ward."

Glancing down at the address written on the piece of paper, Gibbs stood up before he looked back at the psychiatrist, "Thank you, Doc."

Dr Lawrence nodded as he rose from his seat in a silent indication that Gibbs's interview was over as he rounded his desk and began to walk Gibbs towards the door as he said softly. "Let me give you some advice, Agent Gibbs, it might be an idea for you to get a court order to subpoena for me to release Randy Novak's medical records, I think you will find some compelling readings within them but you didn't hear that from me, of course."

Gibbs nodded, "I will, Doc, and thanks."

Pausing at the door with his hand on the door handle, Dr Lawrence turned to face Gibbs as he warned him, "And when you go to speak with Michael, I strongly advise that you don't go alone. And please, Agent Gibbs, don't leave Agent DiNozzo unguarded for a minute. If Michael Novak is behind his abduction, and he did it for revenge, then I believe that your agent is still in extreme danger. I also believe that Michael blames Agent DiNozzo not only for Randy's condition but also his death, and he won't stop until he believes he has punished him. And I as I told you before, the man is a cold-blooded psychopath."

Gibbs nodded as the psychiatrist's warning sent cold ripples through his soul.


End file.
